By Maura Possley
The Bradenton Herald

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — "Gas! gas! gas!" echoes a chorus of voices in the crowded classroom of Manatee Technical Institute's east campus on Wednesday.

At once, paper suits are opened, masks pulled on, boots slipped into. In a few moments, it is hard to tell who's who among the 30 or so emergency professionals.

In pairs and breathing through their masks, they try to carefully but quickly tape each other so that no gas or any other contamination would seep through.

There is no threat, luckily, as the group are students, preparing for the worst.

In a two-day course on emergency response to terrorism, students are trained by professors of the University of Miami's Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education.

"After Sept. 11 there was a void of education . . . having to do with any situations dealing with weapons of mass destruction," said Bernie Montoya, a core instructor.

The team of instructors travels the state and southeastern United States training emergency personnel -- police officers, paramedics, hospital staff -- to deal with acts of terrorism.

It is a response to the 2001 terrorist attacks requested by the state of Florida after the loss and destruction that day in New York City, Montoya said.

"We believe if we have some training we can minimize the affects of first-responders," said Montoya, referring to emergency professionals who died trying to save those in the World Trade Center.

Some students this week took the terrorism course to refresh their skills, others to learn for the first time, said Mike Flanagan, MTI emergency medical services program director.

"Just because we don't have to worry about international terrorism that doesn't mean local things can't happen," he said.

Home-grown threats are something they must be aware of, said Flanagan, who brought the course to MTI and hopes it will be an annual offering.

"It addresses simple things, like what are you going to do when you get on scene," he said.

While the training doesn't mean to instill fear that an al-Qaida attack will follow in a place like Manatee County, instructors said, too often people say not in my backyard.

"One woman said, 'But not in Manatee County,'" Montoya said. "But that's what people thought about Oklahoma City. I think we've made them more aware of the dangers and also how to mitigate them."

Go to our Web site to view a slideshow of the training.

Copyright 2008 The Bradenton Herald