California Regional US&R Task Force 1

Marin County is surrounded on three sides by water. It has a history of storm related flooding, mud/land slides and swift water incidents. In the early 90’s the first water rescue group was formed from Marin County Fire and Public Works personnel as a section of the Marin County Urban Search and Rescue Team. Team members were certified in swift water operations, inflatable boat operations, personal watercraft operations, animal rescue, and helicopter operations. Water rescue equipment was purchased including personal watercrafts, inflatable boats, personal protective gear and equipment trailer.

 

In 1996 as a result of extensive flooding in California, O.E.S. Search and Rescue Division purchased and assigned 8 Swift Water/Flood Rescue equipment caches throughout California. With the expansion of the Marin County Urban Search and Rescue Team to include all Marin local fire agencies as well as the National Park Service, water rescue team membership was increased.  For the next decade training and equipment were expanded and structured to meet State requirements for a type 1 Swift Water Rescue Team.  Marin team members participated at a state level in development of water rescue standards for the California Firescope curriculum. 

 

In 1997  California OES certified Marin County Swift Water Rescue team as a type 1 team. In 2008 California OES Search and Rescue Division expanded from 10 water rescue teams to 13 and the Marin Swift Water Rescue Team was designated Team 11. In June of 2008 Marin Swift Water Rescue Team received an OES Cache truck/trailer. In 2009 Team membership was expanded to 25 members. 

Marin County Swift Water Rescue Team training is held throughout the year. Our primary focus for training is during the winter season from October through May. During this time monthly drills bring members together to work as a team to complete training requirements in a variety of environments.

 

San Francisco Bay Training: We train in bayside coastal areas between The Golden Gate Bridge and Petaluma Creek. These include night operations, search and water rescue, cliff rescue, equipment launching and operations.

 

Regional drills:  We regionally attend joint training with National Park Service and US Coast Guard. We participate in multi –agency drills with transportation district Ferry Boats, and regional USAR teams. We also train with Marin USAR, Local Fire agency Fire Boats, IRB’s and Dive Teams.

Coastal Training:  We train in Marin Pacific Coastal areas between the Golden Gate Bridge and Bodega Bay. These include surf rescue and equipment operations, cliff rescue, ocean swimming, coastal launching and landing.

Inland training: We train in Marin and Sonoma inland waterways, rivers and lakes. The primary focus is swift water rescue and training.

 

State OES required training: All members are certified as Swift Water Technician, and as a team have personnel certified in Animal Rescue, Helicopter Operations, ICS 200 and 300, Rescue Systems 1, IRB and PWC boat operations.

 

Marin County Water Rescue Team is one of 13 OES Type 1 Swift Water Teams in the State of California. All O.E.S. Water Rescue Teams are coordinated and ordered through the normal mutual aid request procedures and are able to deploy within 2 hours with hours with prior notification and 4 hours without. The teams are totally self sufficient for the first 24 to 96 hours supported later by incident and logistical support teams from O.E.S. or other State or Local agencies.

 

Each of the 13 teams has one member who participates on a state formed water rescue committee. The purpose of the committee is for the development of policy for water rescue resources, including organizational development, resource and equipment typing. All policy, equipment, training recommendations, and team organization that comes from this committee is then submitted to Firescope for approval. The goal here is for an incident commander on the scene of a water related emergency to be able to pick his F.O.G. (Field operations guide) and order up the appropriate resources and know exactly what the capabilities of such resources are.

Recent Deployments: