Local, state and federal authorities gathered at the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Ryan Center Thursday as part of a large-scale chemical decontamination exercise dubbed “Exercise DOWNPOUR.” The training operation, which was put on and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), was conducted in an effort to boost evidence of and data from chemically hazardous incident response procedures.