A motorcycle rider suffered major injuries in a crash at a private off-road park near Soulajule Reservoir in West Marin on Saturday, prompting a helicopter hoist rescue that ended with the patient being flown across county lines to a Sonoma County trauma center. An off-duty firefighter/paramedic who happened to be riding at the same facility came upon the unconscious victim and got emergency crews moving.
An Off-Duty Rescuer Finds the Victim
The crash happened at the Marin County Motorcycle Association park, a private riding facility off Marshall-Petaluma Road near Soulajule Reservoir, according to CHP Golden Gate Division Air Operations. The off-duty firefighter/paramedic was riding at the same park when they located the unconscious victim, per the same account. Marin County Fire Department then reported the motorcycle collision on the trail and requested California Highway Patrol Helicopter H-30 for assistance.
Marin Fire determined that a hoist extraction was necessary to get the injured rider out of the area, the CHP account notes. H-30 landed near the accident scene and lowered a flight officer down to the patient, then worked with Marin Fire crews to package the patient for extraction before flying the rider to Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Trauma Care in the North Bay
Santa Rosa Memorial operates the sole Level II Regional Trauma Center serving Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa counties, according to Providence, and its emergency teams provide round-the-clock coverage from trauma surgeons and neurosurgeons for life-threatening injuries. That single facility handles roughly 1,450 critical or life-threatening injury cases a year across its multi-county North Bay service area, per Wikipedia.
Spring Valley Ranch, a 1,179-acre property, lies south of Soulajule Reservoir, according to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.
CHP's H-30 Aircraft
H-30 is an Airbus H125 helicopter equipped with Advanced Life Support medical gear and a rescue hoist capable of lifting patients from as high as 150 feet above the ground, according to Lian Media. The aircraft carries a flight officer who is also a certified paramedic, allowing the crew to deliver advanced medical care in the air during the flight to the hospital. CHP Golden Gate Division Air Operations flies two rescue helicopters and two fixed-wing aircraft out of Napa County Airport, covering nine Bay Area counties spanning 6,923 square miles. H-30 has also conducted hoist rescues.
H-30 has also conducted hoist rescues. Marin County Fire maintains a dedicated Special Operations division that oversees technical search and rescue work, water rescues, and coordination with state air units like H-30, according to the County of Marin.
A Long History of Off-Road Riding in West Marin
The Marin County Motorcycle Association is a private, members-only club that has operated its off-road riding park on ranchland near Soulajule Reservoir since around 1970, after motorized riding was banned at China Camp during the creation of China Camp State Park, according to the Point Reyes Light. The club, incorporated in 1963, negotiated trail access with local agricultural landowners and now restricts entry to registered members and scheduled private events. It's a corner of West Marin most residents rarely see, tucked well off the main roads that wind through the county's ranchlands.
Hoodline has covered several similar joint hoist rescues by CHP H-30 and local fire crews in recent years, including an August rescue that pulled a Brisbane hiker from Firth Canyon and an earlier extraction on Mission Peak in Fremont. As of Saturday's rescue, no further details on the rider's condition following admission to Santa Rosa Memorial had been released, and the specific circumstances of the crash on the trail remain unclear.
