Interest Up in Disaster Rescue Training : Emergency: More and more employees are learning relief skills from first aid to using air bags.

Nine Xerox workers from El Segundo spent part of the day Friday in clouded darkness looking through fallen debris and broken structures for any signs of life.

They were not rescuers coping with the aftermath of the devastating Northridge earthquake or its many aftershocks, but rather a group of volunteers going through a weeklong training program designed to prepare them for just such an eventuality.

The nine workers, all full-time employees with jobs ranging from computer specialists to maintenance workers, are members of the company’s volunteer fire team who practice twice a month. The group has been together for about three years. Most of them also went through the state fire marshal’s heavy rescue training about a year ago.

This week’s disaster training was undertaken at JS Seminar’s Disaster Simulator Training Center in Huntington Beach. They put in 40 hours taking written and practical tests involving everything from emergency first-aid to how to operate the same type of air bags and “Jaws of Life” used in the Northridge earthquake to free trapped survivors.

Call it virtual reality earthquake training--right down to the chalky smoke billowing through the simulated wreckage of office spaces to the make-believe victims, played by a handful of Cypress High School students who volunteered to play the role of survivors pinned beneath huge wooden blocks and Styrofoam bricks.

In fact, the senior instructor had seen firsthand what the Northridge earthquake did, and said the re-creation looked very similar to some of the actual quake areas he had surveyed.

“We’re not unrealistic in our representation,” said Jim Mclain, the senior instructor for JS Seminars and also a member of the Orange County Search and Rescue Team.

Gary Stockdale and Nina Johnson, co-owners of the training center, have been in business for almost two years. Along with an instructional staff of seven, they specialize in teaching workers in major businesses such as FHP and UC Irvine how to deal with disasters.

Stockdale has 25 years’ experience as a firefighter and emergency room technician and is the retired chief of Orange County Search and Rescue, while Johnson spent six years with the California National Guard and worked for three years with Orange County Search and Rescue.

“Right now, the demand for training is definitely increasing,” Stockdale said.

Xerox maintenance worker Jay McGrath said that in wake of the recent earthquake, such training is invaluable.

“We’re very vulnerable to earthquakes and if the Big One does hit, we’ll be prepared and maybe able to save some lives,” he said. “I feel pretty confident with this team.”

Mike Garey, deputy fire chief for Xerox, agreed.

“This is extremely beneficial. Not only can this be used at work, but what these guys are learning right now can also be used at home or anywhere,” he said.