Santa Barbara County Foodbank kicks off emergency disaster training for multiple agencies

Santa Barbara, Calif. - Disaster specialist Anthony Rodriguez carries a dummy as part of an intensive training for large scale disasters.

“Anytime we come to a disaster we wanna see if they’re breathing. The way we check is we put our ear to the mouth … check to see if the stomach rises," said Rodriguez.

The Santa Barbara County Foodbank is training volunteers across the county on how to respond in the event of a major emergency.

"Also we want to see what type of injury so we’re checking the head make sure nothing is going on … check to see the hands if there’s any blood … of course I would be wearing gloves," said Rodriguez.

"Since the Thomas fire and mudslide and since Covid disasters have really been front and center for what the food bank does for the community so we do a lot of CERT training the community emergency response team training for a volunteers for our staff so that we can continue to operate effectively,” said CEO Erik Talkin of the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

One of the items participants will receive is a green vest which tells agencies that they’re trained in disaster response

"Whether it be medicine or money small bills change because you don’t to pay $100 for a water if you only have $100 bill so you have to remember that," said Rodriguez.

Some of the agencies participating in the training include the Salvation Army, Housing Authority of Santa Barbara county, and the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

The disaster training will continue through Saturday and Sunday.