Marin's Swift Water Rescue Team Blitzes Through SoCal Helicopter Drills

From controlled burns to live-fire training exercises at soon-to-be-demolished schools and homes, Marin County’s firefighters are perpetually looking for opportunities to test their skills and develop new ones in advance of the next major disaster where they’ll be needed.

Few of those exercises yield the spectacular video you see above, as four members of the Marin County Water Rescue Team spent several days doing helicopter water rescue training at Lake Castaic near Santa Clarita, with Larkspur Fire Capt. Matt Cobb sporting a GoPro video camera on his helmet as he plunged into the water during those exercises.

The Marin group also included Kentfield firefighter Kris Viau, Marin County Fire Capt. Graham Groneman and Southern Marin Fire Capt. Kai Pasquale, the latter of whom heads the 28-member team.

There are 13 water rescue teams in California, and Marin’s team is a subsidiary of the Marin Urban Search and Rescue Team, having been certified by California Office of Emergency Services in 1997. Over the years, the team has been involved in a number off major operations, from the rescue of seven passengers on a fishing boat in rough water off Tomales Bay last November to the search for Anthony Donelson, who was found dead after he dove into Corte Madera Creek to elude police last December. The team made 15 rescues alone during the during the New Year's Eve flood of 2005 that pummeled Marin towns like San Anselmo.

The Marin Water Rescue Team participates in a bevy of training throughout the year in the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay and related Marin and Sonoma waterways, including night operations and cliff rescues and joint training exercises with the National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard.

But without a dedicated budget, the team often scrambles for funding and resources beyond its inflatable rescue boat and equipment truck and trailer.

“It’s really important for people in Marin to know that an entity like ours exists,” Pasquale said, noting that Marin is surrounded on three sides by water, with creeks, rivers and lakes scattered in between. “We’re constantly looking for ways to make sure we have the best training and equipment we can to be prepared.”