On a recent Wednesday morning, white smoke billowing out of a stack of shipping containers on Point Reyes Station’s Commodore Webster Drive carried a sweet, unexpected scent. The smoke wasn’t real smoke but burning sugar and glycol—a harmless mix that is used to simulate the disorienting conditions of a structure fire. From a safe distance, a group of San Geronimo Valley residents watched as firefighters disappeared into the makeshift training tower.
The spectacle was part of a demonstration offered by the Marin County Fire Department as part of its planning for a new San Geronimo headquarters. On June 10, community members toured the training site—a former Coast Guard complex—for a firsthand look at some of the activities and that could accompany the project. The selection of a design-build team for the $70 million fire station is underway, community input workshops will start in late summer, and construction is expected to begin before the end of the year.
The fire department organized the tour to address misconceptions about what would occur at the San Geronimo facility and to respond to concerns about noise from training operations. Residents often imagine “flames shooting out of the top of a building” and “enormous noise,” Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber said, while most training involves practicing fundamental skills in controlled environments.
In Point Reyes Station, residents watched firefighters climb a five-story tower through artificial smoke, throw ladders, carry hoses, and navigate piles of concrete rubble meant to simulate collapsed cars and buildings. Recruits pulled mannequins from smoke-filled mazes and practiced forcible-entry techniques on steel doors.
Among those attending was Ken Naffziger, vice chair of the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group’s steering committee. “I was pretty shocked when I first walked in,” he laughed, saying the sight of crushed cars and piles of concrete had caught him off guard.
Fire officials said that at the new headquarters, training exercises will occur a few times a year, while others—likely the high-impact and noisier exercises—will take place elsewhere, at coastal bluffs and on lands in Nicasio. These trainings are critical for a department at the vanguard of firefighting, officials said.
Marin Fire’s staff has grown from roughly 100 full‑time and seasonal firefighters in 2010 to more than 300 now, in part to meet a $20 million contract with Cal Fire to provide services that state crews would otherwise handle in the county. That growth has been aided by access to the 33‑acre former Coast Guard facility at 100 Commodore Webster Drive, which has served as the department’s temporary tactical training hub since the county purchased it in 2018.
The vacant complex has been an ideal, low-consequence venue for crews to practice everything from simulated smoke evacuations to carrying chainsaws up to rooftops. And although the property sits less than 200 feet from neighboring homes, the department has received no noise complaints in its eight years conducting trainings there.
But that era will soon draw to a close. The county recently approved a transfer of the property to the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin and Eden Housing for a $55 million adaptive‑reuse project that will provide 54 affordable homes, including units reserved for displaced farmworkers.
From a viewing area, residents witnessed a training prop described as a kind of laboratory for fire behavior. While combustible materials are ignited in an upper chamber, trainees below learn to recognize changing fire conditions and practice using water and ventilation to improve survivability and access safer areas. Mr. Weber said the structure also simulates a “flashover” experience: As a room becomes super-heated with gases and smoke, it can suddenly flash into combustion.
Another station focused on urban search and rescue, with piles of concrete slabs and rubble mimicking a collapsed bridge or roadway pinning a vehicle. There, crews practice lifting heavy sections and cutting small openings that allow search cameras to be inserted, fresh air to be pumped in, and polluted air to be extracted.
Officials told the group that techniques are evolving alongside new and developing technologies, including drones the size of a car that release water and foam and jet packs that paramedics could use to reach patients.
The conversation also turned to creative possibilities for the planned station’s community-use space and ways the facility could serve local needs beyond firefighting. Ideas included preserving access to trails and the community garden, providing permanent refrigeration and freezer space for the valley’s busy food pantry, and building a small bike station for kids to pump air into their tires.
Local medical care was of particular interest for residents who live far from health-care facilities. Mr. Weber noted that all county fire stations have a small treatment room, and he said requests have been growing for routine health monitoring at local sites. He described a future vision of community paramedicine, with ambulances that provide non-critical transport, bloodwork, antibiotics, and even behavioral health services.
The day wrapped up with a visit to a mobile water‑recycling module parked at the edge of the property—another example of the department’s efforts to reduce the impacts of its operations.
North Marin Water District maintains wells on the property that are subject to occasional salinity intrusion. To avoid worsening those conditions, the fire department created a closed‑loop system that recirculates water rather than spraying it away. In its first week of use, the $80,000 unit recycled about 350,000 gallons of water. Since entering service last December, it has recycled nearly 1 million gallons.
The San Geronimo headquarters marks the first time in county history that Marin is using a progressive design-build model. Widely used in public-sector construction, the method allows architects and builders to collaborate before final designs are locked in. Mr. Weber said that overlap allows design and engineering work to continue while community input is gathered, helping to address any issues earlier and reduce costly changes later. The project is slated for completion by the end of 2028.