Marin County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue

Marin County Search and Rescue is an all-volunteer organization in Marin County within Marin County Sheriff's Office.[1] With approximately sixty active members, Marin County's Search and Rescue (Marin SAR) responds to searches for missing children and adults, evidence[2] and other search requests in the county and on mutual aid calls anywhere in the state of California. Marin SAR is a mountain rescue Type I team with the motto of: "Anytime, Anywhere, Any Weather."

Marin County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue Mountain Rescue Team
Marin County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue Mountain Rescue Team logo
Active1970 - Present
TypeAll volunteer, SAR, MRA unit
Size100 active members
Part ofMarin County Sheriff's Office
Garrison/HQ San Rafael, CA
Nickname(s)Marin SAR
Motto(s)Anytime, Anywhere, Any Weather
ColorsWhite and Green
WebsiteUnit website
Commanders
Unit CommanderMichael St. John
Sheriff's Lt. LiaisonPierre Ahuncain
Support DirectorsBob Gehlen, Molly Williams

History

Marin County Search and Rescue (Marin SAR) began as Explorer Post 74 in 1970, focusing on ecology and outdoor education.[3] In 1971, the organization became the first scouting group in Marin to accept young women into the program. In the mid-1970s, several members attended a scouting conference in Washington state and learned about Explorer Search and Rescue. Marin Explorers returned and convinced the rest of the group to change the focus to search and rescue.

In 2004, Marin County's SAR team became Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) Type I[4] certified[5]—capable of handling the most challenging terrain at the highest elevations. In 2006, Marin SAR hosted the International Mountain Rescue Conference (IMRC),[6] bringing search and rescue experts from all over to train together and share best practices in technical rescue. In 2010, Marin SAR was one of the coordinating host agencies for SAREX 2010[7] with responsibility for the coordination and management of the technical rope rescue track.

Today the team, headquartered in San Rafael, CA at 10S 054113 420581 UTM, trains and is equipped to respond to sustained wilderness[8][9][10] and high altitude searches, missing children searches,[11] mass casualty incidents or natural disasters[12] as well as Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) with some members also members of regional US&R task force and swiftwater rescue. One of the few Search & Rescue teams to recruit and deploy youth members, on average Marin's SAR team has approximately 30 high-school[13][14] age members and in a typical year deploys on 50+ missions throughout the State of California including Yosemite.[15]

Operations

Due to the diverse geography of Marin County, its proximity to major population centers, and natural tourist attractions, Marin County's SAR team operates closely with National Park Service (NPS) rangers, California State Park Rangers, Marin Watershed management,[16] Marin County Open Space District[17] as well as local law enforcement, fire, and civic organizations.[18][19]

Resources

Marin SAR fields six Search & Rescue vehicles including one SUV, a 4x4 van, a command vehicle and three emergency service vehicles. Additionally the team has two ATVs, a UTV[20] and an IRB.

References
  1. "Marin County Sheriff's Office official site". Archived from the original on 2014-12-25. Retrieved 2014-12-24.
  2. Marin SAR assisting on a local evidence search Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. History of Marin County's Search & Rescue
  4. FEMA SAR levels defined
  5. California region's MRA teams Archived 2016-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  6. MRA's 2006 Annual Report
  7. Search and Rescue Expo 2010 on Treasure Island
  8. "Search for missing teenager". Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  9. "Trail runner rescued". Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  10. "Search for missing hiker at Pt. Reyes". Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  11. Search in Sonoma County
  12. Marin County's Search & Rescue participates in evacuation drill
  13. San Rafael student in search unit finds missing woman in Carmel Valley
  14. High School students help search for missing women
  15. "Yosemite Search and Rescue". Archived from the original on 2010-07-24. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  16. Marin County Watershed Program
  17. Marin Open Spaces District
  18. Multi-agency rescue operation
  19. KTVU TV news story on the interagency rescue on Mt. Tam Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Six-person UTV specs

See also
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