Sharp employee volunteers with Eaton Fire relief effort

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Brian Cohen has been dedicated to search-and-rescue since his family was evacuated during the 2003 Cedar Fire.

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When Brian Cohen arrived at the Rose Bowl parking lot on Jan. 13, he was amazed at what he saw. The area was jam-packed, not with tailgaters but camps and staging sites for firefighters from across the western United States.

“I’d never seen anything like it,” he says. “The organization was impressive.”

Cohen, who is the director of Neuroscience and Orthopedics at Sharp Memorial Hospital, was in Pasadena as a volunteer with the San Diego Mountain Rescue Team (SDMRT). Cohen and his fellow volunteers had been activated to join the recovery efforts from the Eaton Fire, which devastated entire neighborhoods in Pasadena and Altadena.

As of January 17, at least 17 people were killed, and thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. The SDMRT was given the critical support assignment of debris-clearing and aiding local authorities in locating missing people.

A passion born out of tragedy

Cohen, originally from New Jersey, was only a San Diegan for two years when he learned firsthand how devastating wildfires can be. He and his family were evacuated during the 2003 Cedar Fire, one of the deadliest fires in American history. After securing his family’s safety, he set about helping friends and neighbors evacuate.

Not long after that experience, Cohen was shopping when he saw a recruitment poster for the SDMRT. He decided to sign up. “It takes two to three years to get promoted from trainee,” he says.

One weekend each month, team members practice in various rescue settings and scenarios, from the desert to the mountains and from extreme heat to ice and snow.

“It’s intentionally as miserable as they can make it,” Cohen describes. “They’re looking for the trainees who are still standing and having fun at the end. That first weekend, I knew this was a group I wanted to volunteer with.”

Search and rescue

Cohen has been passionate about the SDMRT since those first few days. “The best thing is when we find people alive and help get people out,” he says.

He vividly remembers his first successful rescue near a popular hiking trail east of Ramona. “There was torrential rain, so visibility was low,” he says. “But we knew the area well, we knew where people tended to get lost, and we went right for those spots.”

They began calling the missing person’s name and, after just a few minutes, heard their surprised response. “It’s an amazing feeling when you find someone who might have given up hope that they’ll be found,” he says. “They’re so excited.”

Over the years, Cohen has participated in some of the most notable search-and-rescue efforts in San Diego County.

The Eaton Fire

While Cohen finds participating in the trainings enjoyable, he says there is a switch in the brain that he and his teammates flip when it’s time to go to work. Never was that more necessary than when they arrived at the destruction caused by the Eaton Fire.

“It’s emotional,” he says. “You’re going through somebody’s entire life, and it’s gone.”

However, Cohen considers it a privilege to be able to help during a time of need. “It’s an honor to be there,” he says.

Cohen also found it striking that people who had lost everything were still so grateful. They were also determined to help others.

“They have nothing left, but they still want to give,” he says. “So many people were giving out meals or snacks — it really meant a lot.”

Cohen hopes that sharing his experience will encourage others to join the San Diego Mountain Rescue Team. “I’ve settled on this idea that my mission in life is to find people who are lost and build hospital programs to treat them once they’re found,” he says.

“They’re a very vulnerable population — sometimes for a day because they got hurt, sometimes because of the hand they’ve been dealt in life. If I can find them and bring them to a hospital well-built to help them, that’s a life well-spent.”

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