Pajaro residents step up after floods in first Spanish FEMA Program

PAJARO, Calif. (KION-TV) - A group of Pajaro residents who lived through devastating flooding are now trained to respond if disaster strikes again.

They're joining the front lines as community first responders in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

Two dozen residents, all survivors of Pajaro’s recent floods, completed emergency response training through a 22 hour FEMA certified program.

The training, taught entirely in Spanish, is the first of its kind in the region.

I spoke to several participants who say the program has given them the tools to protect not only their own families, but their entire community.

They survived the floods. Now they’ve trained to save lives, armed with radios, helmets, trauma supplies, and the knowledge of how to act in a crisis.

“We know CPR. We know what to do when houses go down or catch fire,” said Mario Merlos.

The training wasn’t easy to bring to Pajaro. It required coordination across five counties, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey.

“It was very hard to get Spanish instructors. It took five counties working together to make this happen,” said Andrea Estrada.

In a town where most residents speak Spanish, holding the course in their native language made all the difference.

“Having these skills and knowing how to respond will help his Spanish speaking community to be prepared. It helps him know what to do in those situations,” said Mario Merlos.

The program spanned three Sundays in March and included lessons on search and rescue, fire safety, disaster medicine, and emergency psychology. But according to those involved, the hardest part wasn’t memorizing procedures, it was preparing for what they might actually see on the ground.

“The hardest part was learning that he’s going to be in situations where he’ll see difficult things like a lot of blood, or people badly injured. That’s been the hardest thing to understand, how to deal with that,” said Andrea Estrada.

The program was launched in direct response to the two catastrophic floods that struck Pajaro, wiping out homes and businesses and displacing hundreds of families.

“We, as the community and the county, wanted to prepare residents just in case they needed to evacuate again. We wanted to give them the tools to be ready and help their families feel safe,” said Andrea Estrada.

For many, the floods left permanent marks.

“In 1995, he was a business owner and lost his machinery and equipment. That really hurt him. But other people lost even more. It affected them mentally, physically, and financially. Even now, he feels like he hasn’t recovered half of what he lost,” said Mario Merlos.

But now, he says, they are ready for whatever comes next.

“Now I know what to do the next time. This training gave me that,” said Mario Merlos.

The next steps for these newly trained CERT members include a joint training session with North County Fire and an official swearing in ceremony this fall.