Marin County Search and Rescue

05/31/2026

The Marin County Sheriff Search and Rescue Team has been supporting El Dorado in the Search effort since Wednesday night over 40 members participating. Efforts will continue today.

05/21/2026

Congrats to Gideon Bernstein for Being awarded Marin County Volunteer of the year!

Gideon Bernstein has been giving back since joining the Marin County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit in 2018, and is very deserving of recognition as Volunteer of the Year. 2025 was a big year for Gideon. He had nearly 900 hours of service for Marin SAR in 2025. In addition to being a member of Marin SAR, Gideon is a member of the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) with his working K9, Bruce, who in 2025 had a life-saving find on a search in Sonoma County. Gideon was elected as Bootcamp Manager for the Marin SAR in late 2024, taking on responsibility for onboarding all new team members. Gideon previously served as fundraising manager from 2019 to 2024, significantly increasing donations to the team and enabling us to make important additions to our equipment and capabilities. Gideon has worked diligently up our career ladder, reaching the level of Advanced Team Leader, which means we rely on him to lead teams in the field, serve as mission leader out of county and be capable to serve in the command post managing the work of running large searches.

05/19/2026

It was a busy weekend of training for Marin SAR! We had three different trainings: drivers training, HeliOps in Mendocino County, and a rope rescue training for our monthly Saturday training. 70 team members attended a training at Lake Lagunitas, focusing on rappelling, ascending, and building and operating low angle rope rescue systems. Simultaneously, 15 team members participated in the annual HeliOps training put on by Mendocino County Search and Rescue. This event gives SAR members hands on repetitions of working around helicopters including safe loading and unloading, air to ground communications, and short haul operations. We also had 12 new members go through our drivers training, which is required to operate any of our vehicles.

05/14/2026

12 of our team members just finished their Rope Rescue Technician course. This is a 40 hour course taken after the Rope Operator course that focuses on technical rescue systems primarily in high and steep angle terrain. Students practiced rigging multiple systems for lowering and raising a litter attendant and victim.

05/13/2026

Thanks to Horse Hill for supporting our Large Animal Rescue team training!

05/10/2026

Last week we officially welcomed 31 new members to the team after they graduated their basic training and became full fledged team members! Special thanks to Sheriff Scardina for joining us for this occasion.

05/02/2026

04/27/2026

This weekend, our 31 newest members finished their field training, known as “Bootcamp”. The second weekend focused on rescue skills. New members learned basic knots and rigging, patient packaging, and wheeled litter operations. New members then went through several rescue scenarios, including a night scenario. One of the culminating experiences for bootcamp is the “unexpected night out” where new members must build a shelter from items in their pack and spend the night out with no sleeping bag. The next morning after a hike out, new members practiced area search skills and evidence search practice including metal detectors. We are excited to welcome 31 new operational members to our team!!

04/19/2026

While you were sleeping...

Marin Municipal Water District rangers requested Marin SAR's assistance at 3:30a.m. for a missing 48 year-old hiker. She was on an organized hiking trip and became separated from the main group. She contacted friends early evening to let them know her location, but thought she could make it back to her car. Her roommate reported her missing when she failed to return home.

A Marin SAR ground search team located the missing person on a remote trail at about 5:20a.m. She stated the she got lost after her cell battery died and it became dark. She was spending the night in-place on the trail, but had no food, water or warm clothes. She was transported to the command post where she was evaluated by Marin County Fire medics and released.

04/13/2026

This weekend our new recruit class of 31 new members began their first field exercises. These exercises are part of what we call “bootcamp” which is our basic training required for all new team members. New team members learned about search tactics, navigation, radios, and tracking. On Sunday, they headed into the field to put those skills to use during an all day exercise.
Thanks to Marin Municipal Water District for letting us train in the watershed!