Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit

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Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit

The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit is a member of the Mountain Rescue Association. We are a group of volunteers out of Riverside County, California.

The unit is comprised of ~40 volunteers, who literally come from all walks of life. They regularly leave their jobs (or in the middle of the night, their warm beds) to respond to a call for help. They also do not receive remuneration for time given to search and rescue. The members make up a small, but spirited, group of mountaineers who spend one weekend each month training to sharpen their rescu

e skills. Each member must provide all of his own equipment at a cost of more than $2,500. Beside acting as a highly competent rescue workers, members also work closely with school, clubs, church groups, and Scout troops throughout the area to teach mountain safety. The ounce of prevention may well prevent the untimely pound of cure. In September of 1961 six men formed the 100% volunteer Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit. In a very short time the unit was tested and approved for membership in the national Mountain Rescue Association. Then in January of 1964 the unit was incorporated and granted non-profit status by the state and federal governments. The Unit began very modestly, it owned nothing! Through the hard work of founding members, their wives and friends, equipment was slowly purchased. The Unit was given a used panel truck and the members worked many long hours preparing it for search and rescue. That first year saw a total of seven mission and a working budget of less than $200. The Unit now averages better than 40 mission a year and needs $1,250 per month to run it growing operation. The Unit can modestly boast of saving over 500 lives since it’s beginning in 1961. This lifesaving work is made possible by RMRU’s Sustaining Members and the money they contribute each year. What is a life worth. The Unit believes that no expense should be spared to save the life of an unfortunate victim and in many cases it takes costly and precisely made: litters, first aid gear, climbing ropes, hardware, radio equipment and rescue vans to make a successful rescue out of a potential tragedy.

06/14/2026

14June2026
RMRU Team Members received a callout at 10:00pm for 3 lost hikers east of Saddle Junction along King Trail without food, water, shelter, or warming layers. One member of the subject party also reported symptoms of food poisoning.

All 4 responding team members arrived on scene at 12:15 am, received an updated briefing of patient status and resources, collected their gear, and were dispatched into the field via the Devils Slide Trailhead at 12:50 am.

Team members made contact with the subjects along a spur, intersecting the King Trail at 2:56 am. There, they performed medical assessments and provided the necessary rest, warming, and resources for each subject.

Extraction began at 3:40 am, which consisted of a roughly 4-mile walk out back to Humber Park.

All personnel arrived safely at Humber Park and exited the field at 5:46 am. At that time, subjects were evaluated by CalFire and transported by RSO back to their personal vehicles at the Palm Springs Tram.

Team Member Roles:
Command Post: David Bever
Field Team: Alex Cochran, Matt Frenken, Nathaniel Desforges

RMRU is an all volunteer mountain rescue team. We specialize in high angle rock, helicopter, and snow & ice rescues in Riverside California.

Learn more at: https://rmru.org/

Thank you to all who donate and support. What we do would not be possible without you.

06/07/2026

6June2026
RSO Coroners and RMRU performed a Search and Tracking training.
Trainees were tasked with locating and extracting a mock subject in idlywild,CA.
Doing so ensured team members maintained proficiency in man-tracking techniques and backcountry operations

RMRU is an all volunteer mountain rescue team. We specialize in high angle rock, helicopter, and snow & ice rescues in Riverside California.

Learn more at: https://rmru.org/

Thank you to all who donate and support. What we do would not be possible without you.

06/01/2026

31May2026

Team members went up to Idyllwild, CA, to practice technical rope work and implementing the pike and pivot technique.
Many team members also got a variety of Type-I and Type-II sign offs.
Sign offs included:
-Operations Lead
-Edge Attendant
-Line Attendant
-First Responder Medical
-Land Navigation

RMRU is an all volunteer mountain rescue team. We specialize in high angle rock, helicopter, and snow & ice rescues in Riverside California.

Learn more at: https://rmru.org/

Thank you to all who donate and support. What we do wouldn't be possible without you.

05/10/2026

Saturday 10 May, 2026

In partnership with the Riverside Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit, RMRU performed a Helitack Training in order to re-familiarize members with helicopter operations for insertion and extraction.

Topics trained and/or discussed included:

•Aircraft Safety
•2-Ups
•Litter Hoisting
•Tagline procedures
•Individual Hoisting and Lowers
•Hover-Steps
•Patient Management

05/05/2026

The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit was proud to participate in the 3rd annual Idyllwild Trail Festival.

Our team connected with PCT hikers, trail angels, locals, and visitors throughout the day. The team was able to provide insights into mountain rescue operations, technical rock and winter gear capabilities, and demonstrated our new vacuum spine immobilization equipment obtained through gracious community donations.

We were grateful for the overwhelming support and the many meaningful conversations.
A special thank you to Nomad Ventures for hosting this outstanding event and generously donating proceeds to both RMRU and the Fowler-O’Sullivan Foundation.
Your continued support directly strengthens our mission of serving the community.

Interested in joining RMRU? Visit www.rmru.org to learn more about becoming a member and help make a difference in backcountry rescue.

Participating members: Richard Yocum, Will Pendleton, Jon Butler, Ed Gelabert

04/10/2026

Founded in 1961, RMRU celebrates its 65th year of serving Riverside County. Proudly honoring the mottos of "Courage, Commitment, Compasion" and "So Others May Live".

04/01/2026

RMRU spent our Sunday at Big Rock working on those technical rock rescue skills. Low angle slab is much harder to work with a litter than dead vertical, and Big Rock is all about that low angle slab.

03/21/2026

Good work RMRU. The team passed our technical rock reaccreditation with the MRA.

03/15/2026

A few members of the team practiced technical rock training with a small group. With only two people manning the ropes, they had to conduct a lower and a raise of a two person load.

03/12/2026

Throwback Thursday! Did you know we have our newsletters published on our website going all the way back 1965?

Check them out here:
https://rmru.org/portfolio/

Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit is an all-volunteer, professional, unpaid non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. All donations go directly to team training, equipment, and supplies. https://rmru.org/donate/

Address

43950 Acacia Avenue
Hemet, CA
92544

Website

http://www.rmru.org/

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