MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – Though it’s been around since 2014, the nonprofit, volunteer-driven emergency aid organization Marion County Search & Rescue never really had a headquarters.
“We had all our equipment scattered and hidden all over the place,” says Marion County Search & Rescue Team Director Frank Marino. “Parking lots, golf courses, members’ driveways.”
That changed on June 1, 2026, when MCSR signed a short-term lease with the county for the old Pedro Area Volunteer Fire Department Station at the corner of CR 42 and S. HWY 475 in southern Marion County. After being rechristened Marion County Fire Station 23 in the early 2000s, the station was eventually decommissioned in 2007 when the nearby Majestic Oaks Station 23 was remodeled and has served largely as a location for the sale of hot dogs, truck-bed produce and birds of questionable legality since.
That officially changed this past weekend, when MCSR held the ribbon-cutting for its new HQ on Friday, July 31, then hosted an open house on Saturday, August 1.
It’s been a long time coming for the 12-year-old, 40-volunteer-strong aid organization, which first made its bones assisting in the search for Johnny Radabaugh, Jr., a 48-year-old Ocklawaha man who went missing in February 2014. MCSR has since been involved in multiple high-profile cases (as well as innumerable other emergencies), including the case of Victoria Faith Edwards, an Ocala teen who was abducted in 2015.
“We were credited for that find,” says Marino. “They ended up getting her out of a hotel in the state of Washington, but we had critical information that we gathered that led the [Marion County Sheriff’s Office] in that direction.”
MCSR is not a government-funded county body. Rather, it’s a volunteer-run nonprofit that provides bodies, resources and aid when called upon, whether it’s for an individual lost in the Ocala National Forest or wellness checks on families and senior citizens during hurricanes.
“The way it usually works in Marion County is, we’ll get a request from a family member to get involved, and we’ll notify the sheriff’s department that we got a request from the family and that we’ll be out there looking,” said Marino. “And if they, you know, don’t want us to get involved, they’ll reach out to us. In adjoining counties, we get requests from [those counties’] service departments.”
The organization also assists with on-site first aid availability at events like the Brick City Food & Wine Festival, Jeeptoberfest, the Kimberly’s Center 5K and others.
Until now, the network of individuals who make up the organization had equipment spread out and stored wherever space was available. The old Pedro fire station now acts as both a central location for resources and a single, recognizable home base for the organization itself.
Marino notes that it’s not a permanent solution; the station will be on the chopping block whenever Marion County and the Florida Department of Transportation get to widening CR 42, a project–including an overpass across I-75 to connect Summerfield, Oxford and The Villages directly with the Marion Oaks area–that’s been a wish list item for years.
“When I moved down here 14 years ago, they were talking about that,” said Marino with a laugh.
In the meantime, however, it’s Marion Search & Rescue’s new HQ, and the group stands ready to assist community members, panicked families and those weathering storms of all kinds.
Marion County Search & Rescue is always looking for qualified volunteers, who must pay for and provide their own completed Florida Division of Law Enforcement background check. The organization can be reached at 352-443-5366 and marioncountysearchandrescue@yahoo.com.