Marin County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue

History

Marin County Search and Rescue (Marin SAR) began as Explorer Post 74 in 1970, focusing on ecology and outdoor education. 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 certified—capable of handling the most challenging terrain at the highest elevations. In 2006, Marin SAR hosted the International Mountain Rescue Conference (IMRC), 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 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 and high altitude searches, missing children searches, mass casualty incidents or natural disasters 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 age members and in a typical year deploys on 50+ missions throughout the State of California including Yosemite.

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, Marin County Open Space District as well as local law enforcement, fire, and civic organizations.

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 and an IRB.

File:MarinSAR high-angle rescue training Yosemite.jpg|Practicing high-angle rescue in Yosemite. File:MarinSAR patroling on an ATV.jpg|Patrolling on an ATV. File:Marinsar gg.jpg|High-angle search in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. File:MarinSAR_image.jpg|High-angle training overlooking San Francisco Bay.

References

References

1. "Marin County Sheriff's Office official site".
2. [http://novato.patch.com/articles/search-teams-recruited-for-investigation-of-monday-shooting Marin SAR assisting on a local evidence search] {{webarchive. link. (2011-07-15)
3. [http://marinsar.org/unit-history/ History of Marin County's Search & Rescue]
4. [https://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/508-8_search_and_rescue_resources.pdf FEMA SAR levels defined]
5. [http://www.mra.org/teams/us-teams/california-region California region's MRA teams] {{webarchive. link. (2016-03-31)
6. [http://www.mra.org/images/stories/members/MTR-113_WEB_online_rev.pdf MRA's 2006 Annual Report]{{dead link. (January 2018)
7. [http://www.sarex.org Search and Rescue Expo 2010 on Treasure Island]
8. "Search for missing teenager".
9. "Trail runner rescued".
10. "Search for missing hiker at Pt. Reyes".
11. [https://abc7news.com/archive/8041542/ Search in Sonoma County]
12. [http://www.marinscope.com/articles/2010/04/22/mill_valley_herald/news/doc4bcf5516f3a54737880075.txt Marin County's Search & Rescue participates in evacuation drill]
13. [http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_20659247/san-rafael-student-search-unit-finds-missing-woman San Rafael student in search unit finds missing woman in Carmel Valley]{{Dead link. (March 2020)
14. [http://redwoodbark.org/2014/05/students-help-search-for-missing-women/ High School students help search for missing women]
15. "Yosemite Search and Rescue".
16. [http://www.marinwatersheds.org/ Marin County Watershed Program]
17. [http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/PK/Main/mcosd/home.asp Marin Open Spaces District]
18. [http://www.marinscope.com/sausalito_marin_scope/news/article_f911b6f6-4a0f-11e2-b913-001a4bcf887a.html Multi-agency rescue operation]
19. [http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/marin-county-man-rescued-after-driving-minivan-off/vkS8b/ KTVU TV news story on the interagency rescue on Mt. Tam] {{webarchive. link. (2013-10-29)
20. [http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-us/ATV-RANGER/Multi-Passenger-Utility-Vehicles/RANGER-CREW-800/pages/overview.aspx?WT.ac=ORV-TopNav-T2-Model-r12wh76a-2012_rgr_crew_800 Six-person UTV specs]