Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue

06/01/2026

05/30/2026

Please keep an eye out

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office needs your help. Our staff are actively working a search and rescue in Desolation Wilderness with Search and Rescue staff. We are currently searching for an overdue subject, Jason Coughran. Jason is described as a white male adult, he is 60 years old, 6'02" in height and 150 pounds. He has brown hair, hazel eyes, and has an athletic build. He was hiking into Desolation Wilderness from Fallen Leaf Lake. He is believed to be wearing khaki shorts, but unknown clothing for certain. He was last heard from at approximately 4:00 pm on May 25th, 2026. If you were hiking in the area, and came across Jason, please contact the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office at: 530-621-6600 or 530-573-3051.

Please know that the weather can be unpredictable in the high elevations. Please plan accordingly when venturing in the wilderness.

05/22/2026

Stay safe this Memorial Day Weekend.

05/18/2026

Today we are proud to announce 24 Academy students completed our 2026 Academy! We are very proud of the commitment you have shown. Welcome to the team!

05/14/2026

Last weekend we had our annual helicopter safety day at our academy. Members learned about helicopter safety along with ways to package subjects in order to help out when we need to extricate a subject by helicopter. Thank you to Placer County Sheriff's Office for bringing Falcon 30 and for leading this great training!

05/05/2026

Yesterday we used our monthly meeting to go over river and swift water safety. We practiced using throw bags in the parking lot. Thanks to all our members who showed up, even in the pouring rain. Remember that even when it’s starts getting warmer, the rivers are still very dangerous this time of year!

05/03/2026

In April Monica and K9 Jax attended a water cadaver workshop in Cortland, OH with Matthew Zarrella of American Patriot K9 Training. While there, this amazing team passed their International Police Work Dog Association (IPWDA) water cadaver certification test! We are so proud of these two!

05/03/2026

Our 2026 Academy is in full swing! Today we focused on search tactics. We are very happy to have a large group of new members who are dedicating themselves to learning a variety of important search and rescue skills! Great job everyone!

04/20/2026

This week marks National Volunteer Week—a time to recognize and thank the hundreds of individuals who give their time, skills, and energy to support the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and the greater community. We are grateful to our Sheriff’s volunteers (aka White Shirt volunteers – pictured top), who help with our day-to-day operations, including admin, boat patrol, vacation checks, jail support, civil service, evidence, transportation, and community events. We are also fortunate to have 150 dedicated men and women who make up our Nevada County Sheriff's Search & Rescue (pictured center – only a small fraction depicted). In 2025, our SAR volunteers responded to a whopping 100 incidents to help find missing individuals and aid individuals in distress who needed rescue. Pictured bottom are some of the folks who volunteer for our Nevada County Sheriff's HEART. We have 142 volunteers who are dedicated to helping animals and their owners in the community who need rescue and evacuation during an emergency. At the end of this past year, HEART responded to one of its largest incidents to date and successfully rescued over 200 sickly animals.

Our volunteers choose to be part of something bigger than themselves. They step in, stay late, show up early, and quietly make a difference without ever asking for recognition. They are our extra eyes, ears and hands and are always available at a moment’s notice.

Today and every day, we remain grateful for our volunteers who put our community first. Thank you!

04/13/2026

On Saturday a Driver of jeep got stuck in the snow near Signal Peak and had no recovery gear. A local 4x4 recovery group was unable to get to him so NCSSAR was called at approx. 0345 to assist. We used a sno cat and tracked UTV to make access within a mile of subject’s location. Then SAR personnel used snowshoes to get to the subject and led him back out to the sno cat. High winds, blowing snow and low visibility created challenging conditions. Great work team, thank you for braving the rough conditions!