The ghastly scene is the aftermath of a tornado. Fires are burning, electrical lines are down and victims are scattered — some walking wounded, others unconscious and in need of serious medical attention.

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One woman is disoriented and is asking for a crutch. A teenage boy is lying on the pavement unconscious. Another man is screaming that he is burning from harmful chemicals.

First on the scene are a group of ordinary people clad in green vests reading, “CERT: Community Emergency Response Team.” The group divides into teams of two and scatters to attend to the victims and assess potential dangers before the professional emergency squad can arrive.

Fortunately, the disaster scene is a fake.

The scenario was orchestrated by the East Naples Fire Department at Fiddler’s Creek community on Saturday morning. The “victims” were volunteers wearing tags around their necks describing their injuries. The downed power lines were really just rubber tubing. And the fires were contained and closely monitored by the fire department.

It was all set up as a drill to train the Fiddler’s Creek CERT members for real life devastation in their community. Roughly a dozen residents and community staff turned out for the exercises, while fire department personnel looked on.

CERT is a nationwide program aligned with Federal Emergency Management Agency. The goal of these CERT programs is to organize citizens to respond to disaster situations in their communities — kind of like modern day minutemen without the muskets.

Greg Speers is the East Naples Fire Department community relations officer and CERT coordinator.

Speers said that in cases of widespread calamity such as hurricanes, professional response teams tend to be overwhelmed with emergency calls. A citizen response team eases the stress on emergency crews, and allows the citizen first responders to accurately communicate emergencies to the professionals.

In past disasters, CERT has been responsible for distributing food and manning shelters.

In Fiddler’s Creek, a gated community, the CERT program is being built to create a network that aligns the community’s staff, residents and fire department. The group is made up of about half residents and half Fiddler’s Creek staff, Speers said.

Present for Saturday’s drill were Fiddler’s Creek General Manager Ron Albeit and Director of Safety Michael Charbonneau. Albeit helped bring together the community and staff members that make up CERT in Fiddler’s Creek after he was contacted by Russ Rainey, an organizer of Marco Island’s team.

“Their CERT is brand new,” said Rainey. “We’ve had one on Marco Island for years.”

Albeit said initiating the CERT program has created a network of communication throughout the community to prepare for an emergency.

“We think CERT is a great thing for this community,” said Albeit. “It could be a disaster or it could be to just support a neighbor.”

According to Albeit, the Fiddler’s Creek community is preparing for everything from hurricanes to fires, even to pandemics such as avian flu. In the case of a pandemic, Albeit wants his CERT program ready to distribute vaccines.

Although the reasons for creating a CERT program in a community are serious, the training program can actually be a lot of fun for those involved.

While the faces of the green-clad trainees during the drill were serious and focused, the drill’s fake victims got to have the most fun. Before the scenario began, coordinator Greg Speers encouraged the faux victims to really ham up their injuries.

“We want a little acting,” called Speers, like a film director on a set. “We want moaning, groaning and cursing.”

Michele Packard, a receptionist at the East Naples Fire Department, got to play a bewildered victim at the tornado scene. Packard said the experience was really fun.

“You can’t act silly at work, so this is great,” said Packard.

Some of the fake victims were Marco Island residents involved with the island’s CERT program. Marco residents Fred and Louise Winnai are experienced practice victims. Louise Winnai recalled a time when she played a seriously wounded disaster victim.

“I was moaning and groaning,” she chuckled.

During Saturday’s scenario the Winnais weren’t required to act much — they both played unconscious victims — but that didn’t stop them from a few groans for good measure.

Once the scenario ended, Captain Mike Leal of the East Naples Fire Department walked through the scene and commented on the team’s response.

The team had its own comments on how the training went. The most important lesson the members said they learned was they needed to get their radios to work better.

Russ Rainey, who played the chemical burn victim, emphasized that the training was important to prepare for real life situations. Accidents happen, Rainey said, but the drill is meant to work out the kinks in advance so that volunteers are ready for the real thing.

“This is not a test. It’s a learning process. You’re going to ‘kill’ people; you’re going to make mistakes. But that’s how you learn,” said Rainey.

All of the CERT training instructors seemed pleased with the Fiddler’s Creek team training. Captain Leal said he appreciated team’s enthusiasm.

“The best part of it is that they want to be here,” said Leal.

CERT Coordinator Greg Speers also had glowing remarks for the trainees.

“The drill went very well,” Speers said. “I’m very proud of them. They are a valuable asset to their community.”