Emergency responders wearing hazmat suits searched several offices Tuesday for potentially dangerous materials in a former Toledo Public Schools building as part of a training exercise. 

While it was only a drill, it was supposed to feel as real as possible for the team members. 

The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department’s hazardous material team was joined by the 52nd Civil Support Team of Columbus for the training at the Thurgood Marshall Building, 420 E. Manhattan Blvd. It only helps first responders train for a potential real-life emergency, officials said. 

WATCH: Emergency responders trained for a potential real-life emergency

“For us, it’s important because we get a chance to work with other agencies, especially on the federal level,” said Lt. Victor Ellis, who is assigned to the Special Operations Bureau. “If we had a true [weapons of mass destruction] incident, it would be something of national security or national significance, so we want to be able to work with our counterparts on a federal level.”  

The two groups have trained several times together, at least annually, and it helps them bounce ideas off each other, said Lieutenant Ellis. 

The drill scenario included a suspect threatening to kill several people where he worked, so the FBI contacted the fire department and civil support team in a joint mission to search a building for weapons of mass destruction — a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or any other weapon that can kill a large number of people. 

Should a large, ongoing event actually take place in the Toledo area, the local team would be joined by the civil support team, said Toledo Fire Department spokesman Pvt. Sterling Rahe.

During the training, Staff Sgt. Ryan Menth and Sgt. Riley Turner, both of the civil support team, entered the building, climbing the stairs in their orange suits with protective breathing. They stood outside office doors, pointing in equipment that read radiation and air quality levels. 

Once they entered, they then scoured the rooms from top to bottom, searching for any dangerous substances. 

A supervisor continually called an office phone in order to heighten the anxiety during the drill. 

“Well, the phone is working,” one of the civil support members said. 

They also took photos of each room and communicated with the incident commander about what they found. 

Eventually, they located the hazardous material — a white substance spread across a desk, leading them to another office, where an additional substance was located. 

“It’s things that we don’t want to happen, but we have to prepare for if they do happen,” said Lieutenant Ellis. 

Several members of Toledo fire set up a decontamination system and prepared to scrub the support team members once they exited the search process. 

Contact Allison Dunn at adunn@theblade.com, 419-724-6506 or on Twitter @AllisonDBlade.

First Published April 17, 2018, 5:33 p.m.