Marin County Search and Rescue

It has been a busy several days for Marin SAR. On Wednesday, Marin SAR was requested to assist Mendocino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue with a search for a missing autistic nonverbal 10 year old boy in the area of Fort Bragg. Marin SAR deployed alongside teams from Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Humboldt, Napa, Santa Clara, BAMRU, and CALSAR. On Thursday morning, SAR team members located the missing 10 year old alive and well where he had taken refuge in a remote abandoned cabin, almost a mile from his home. On Friday we responded to San Francisco to assist with a search for a missing elderly dementia subject. Marin SAR worked closely with San Francisco and UCSF Police along with SAR teams from San Mateo, BAMRU and CALSAR to search the open space near Mount Sutro. The missing subject was located alive and well by UCSF Police several hours into the search.

Missing person searches are complex incidents requiring collaboration between multiple search and rescue teams, law enforcement, and fire agencies. We are fortunate to have a great working relationship with teams across the state, allowing all of us to work together towards positive outcomes.

Yesterday, several Marin SAR members completed UTV training in the Marin Municipal Watershed. Team members learned how to safely operate our UTV in different terrain. Our UTV allows us to transport searchers and equipment into areas normal vehicles can’t travel.

When the team was wrapping up the training they were requested by Marin Water District Rangers and Marin County Fire to assist with a trail rescue on the Cataract Trail. Marin SAR members arrived on scene and provided initial patient care with rangers until fire units arrived. Team members then assisted county fire with the litter carryout.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.