NORTH ATTLEBORO - If today's snowstorm had been severe enough to create a state of emergency in North Attleboro, town officials would know just how to handle it.

Officials from the police department, town government, school department and fire department met recently to hold a drill to test emergency procedures for a major incident in town - using a major snowstorm as the scenario.

The exercise was a tabletop simulation, so no resources were deployed in the field.

"On Feb. 13, there was a horrible storm, but no one was affected by it but our town's leaders," Fire Chief Peter Lamb quipped.

"The simulation was very real - it was not a doomsday scenario, it was storm that was predicted and arrived sooner than expected," he said. Town officials were asked to mark their their calendars but were not told in advance what emergency they would face.

Calls started at 8 a.m. as the town attempted to deal with a snowstorm so severe that power was knocked out in several areas, including the downtown.

During the drill, officials were called upon to set up emergency shelters, decide whether to send children home from school and how to evacuate a trailer park after the electricity went out.

"The point was to test to failure. We found some gaps, and we're talking about how to fine tune things," Lamb said. "I think it's important that folks know that we are testing and planning."

Approaches to resolving problems created other problems - for example, when traffic lights in the downtown went out, the police department placed an officer at each intersection, meaning the department had few officers available when new emergencies cropped up.

Lamb said the group learned it takes about two hours to get all functions up and running efficiently. Another drill will be held sometime in the fall to check out the lessons learned from prior drills, and to incorporate them into the response.