How city lifeguards have been off to a busy start

It’s still early in the beach season in the city, with lifeguards having been on duty only since May 27. Nevertheless, they have had an unusually busy start.

Hundreds of beachgoers thronged the shore over the Memorial Day weekend, and the first unofficial days of summer passed without any major incidents. On June 1, though, guards had to make some off-duty saves.

Sometime after 6 p.m., when the lifeguards were no longer on duty, five teens were seen struggling in the ocean, between National and Edwards boulevards, by the beach supervisor and lifeguard emergency response crew. The guards were out checking on the beaches because the tide was changing, which they always see as a time to gauge the conditions. Sure enough, they were in the right place at the right time.

“We weren’t on duty — we’re just an emergency response team,” Lifeguard Chief Richard Borawski said. “We’re there to respond if something happens. Sure enough, as we’re walking by, (the swimmers) basically went right into a hole. The lifeguards reacted at a moment’s notice.”

All five swimmers were saved by being maneuvered around the jetty from National to Edwards and then brought in to shore. The Fire Department had also been called, just in case. The swimmers were examined at a local hospital, but there were no injuries.

There has been a serious lifeguard shortage at beaches and pools across the country for the past three years. Last year, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said the state could solve the problem by lowering the minimum age requirement for certification from 16 to 15.

Clavin called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to do just that, saying that 15-year-olds could guard kiddie pools and splash pads. Hochul agreed, and approved the change the same night she received Clavin’s letter.

The town wasn’t struggling through a shortage quite like the rest of the state. It has nearly 200 beach lifeguards on call, and another 300 staffing pools. Hempstead managed to avoid a shortage by offering classes in the winter, Clavin said last year, preparing lifeguard trainees to work last summer.

Long Beach had a similar situation. As is the case everywhere else, guards come and go each year, but the city hasn’t had a dire need for new guards.

“In terms of shortage, we lose these guards every year,” Borawski said. “Obviously the college graduates move on to their careers and stuff like that, and we usually lose, every year, about 15 guards.”

He said last week he was confident that enough new guards would try out, qualify and be trained to prevent a shortage. Tryouts were held last weekend. “We are feeling that we’re going to have a lot of people trying out,” he said. “One, because of the raise in salary that’s comparable to Jones Beach and the Town of Hempstead. And also because of the fact that we do have open positions every year.”

Last month, the city lifeguard corps approved a new contract that increased the starting pay to $20 per hour, but eliminates guaranteed minimum hours. That will give the city financial relief on rainy days.

“They used to have a provision in there that guaranteed them 40 hours a week,” Acting City Manager Ron Walsh explained. “We worked with the lifeguards to adjust the contract, giving them much-deserved raises and giving the city more flexibility.”

Walsh said the city was paying lifeguards less than other municipalities in pay, and was starting to lose guards, but he believes Long Beach is now more than competitive, which will help it maintain staffing.

“We also feel that we probably have the best life lifeguard program in the state,” Walsh said. “We’re very competitive, very professional, and we have a reputation that we wanted to make sure we protected.”

Taking the test

The city’s rookie lifeguard test — which, like most other lifeguard organizations, including Jones Beach, is substantially harder than the test for returning guards — was administered over the weekend. The applicants, age 15 and older, were given hearing and vision tests, swam 400 yards with a torpedo buoy, or “torp,” and rescued a play-acting victim with a buoy and with a surfboard. They took a written test as well, on which they had to score 80 or higher.

The results had yet to be released this week.

“We were sufficiently staffed Memorial Day weekend with all the guards that returned,” Borawski said. “We were very happy with that. What they usually do, though, is eventually let us know what their full-time intentions are before we start fully at the end of June. So we’re almost to that.”