By TOM KANE

BEACH LAKE - Everything was real except there was no blood.

The situation was dire. A Beach Lake fire truck with eight firemen crashed into a passenger car with eight passengers as the crew headed south on Buckingham Road in Beach Lake to a fire.

The passengers were trapped in their car. The firemen were too injured to help. They needed help themselves.

The time was 6:30 p.m. last Tuesday.

Seven fire companies from both sides of the river responded.

Responding also were five EMS companies, the Pennsylvania State Police, Guthrie One, the helicopter from The Robert Packer Medical Center in Sayre, PA and the Red Cross-about 60 people in all.

Near the end of the drill, which was orchestrated by the Wayne County 911 Emergency Center, the helicopter arrived and took one of the "victims" on a short ride and looped back again.

About ten people with the word "Observer" printed on a flap they wore watched and took notes regarding the way the firefighters responded and the problems they had.

Sitting on the opposite hill watching and televising was Glen Gunuskey, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) representative who is stationed in Wayne County.

"We did a drill like this one year ago," said Patricia Mohn, president of Wayne County EMS. "It's important to keep our volunteers sharp with things like this."

The entire group-victims, firefighters, observers and political officials-went back to the Beach Lake Firehouse for refreshments. "We were planning to do a critique of the drill but it was very late, so we'll do it at some time in the near future," Mohn said.

Present were the following companies: Beach Lake, Narrowsburg, Welcome Lake, White Mills, Honesdale, Hawley, and Damascus. EMS companies were: Tusten, Honesdale, White Mills, Waymart and Hawley.

"All performed very well," Mohn said.