"The worst thing we could want is to have an event and not have the ability to use them when we need them," said Joseph Schmider, state emergency medical services director.

The "portable hospitals," bought this year for $450,000 apiece, will be distributed around the state. Yesterday, one was set up near the county emergency-response center in Eagleville. State Department of Health officials wouldn't say where the tents would be stored, citing security concerns. One is to be based in Southeastern Pennsylvania, though more can be brought in on 28-foot trailers if needed.

"If something happens in Philadelphia, we can bring eight of these there," Schmider said. "That's as big as" Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Along with 50 beds, the sprawling hospital tents have climate control, an array of medical supplies, and a triage area, and Schmider said they were ready for use if a swine-flu outbreak happened.

Montgomery County responders had a chance yesterday to learn about the tents and how to use them with the county's other emergency equipment, including a $125,000, computer-equipped "command center" tent and mobile decontamination showers.

The command tent is a recent arrival bought with federal money, said David Paul Brown, county deputy director of public safety field services. He lamented that it was not yet available when firefighters battled August's massive Conshohocken apartment fire.

"We really could've used it," Brown said.