Firefighters enter Clearview Mall during a fire department training event in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Multiple fire trucks, lights and sirens deployed, sped to the Clearview Mall’s front entrance Tuesday as dozens of panicked and gasping occupants of the mall fled the building.

Luckily, the dramatic scene was completely staged as a training exercise to teach firefighters and ambulance personnel how to respond to a fire at a large building with many occupants.

The training exercise’s “victims” were students in an EMS training program, students from Slippery Rock University and other firefighters present.

In the interest of realism, many shouted about the “fire” in the building, while others pretended they were struggling to breathe as firefighters donned the gear they would need to enter a burning building.

A helicopter even landed outside the old J.C. Penney store to airlift “victims” for treatment.

Firefighters were even lifted onto the huge structure’s roof by the trucks, while three of their comrades feigned injury and had to be evacuated in a “man down” scenario.

Some civilian actors played deceased victims of the fake fire so firefighters could experience a scenario as close to the real thing as possible.

No water was used in the exercise, although firefighters trained on hooking up and stretching hoses to the supposed burning areas of the mall.

Curious shoppers and onlookers recorded the chaotic and noisy scene on their cellphones.

Butler Bureau of Fire, Butler Township Fire District, and Unionville, Slippery Rock, Prospect, Chicora, West Sunbury and Marion Township volunteer fire departments participated in the training.

A Butler fireman rolls up a fire hose after a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters wait in the bucket of a fire truck during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters participate in a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters practice helping “victims” during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters practice helping “victims” during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters practice helping “victims” during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters participate in a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters enter Clearview Mall during a fire department training event in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters participate in a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters participate in a “firefighter down” rescue during a fire department training at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Firefighters practice helping “victims” during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

A firefighter comes down the ladder of a firetruck during a fire department training event at Clearview Mall in Butler on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle