AVALON — Beach patrols around Cape May County are working hard to make sure beachgoers are protected while they deal with staffing shortages.
Sea Isle City Beach Patrol (SICBP) Chief Renny Steele said his crew worked around a shortage of lifeguards but did not close any beaches.
“We need 108 guards and we got 99 this year. To provide services we had to have some work overtime, but to the public, it looked like business as usual,” Steele said.
He said working six days a week, every week, was not a big deal at first, but it wears on a lifeguard by the end of the season.
The Avalon Beach Patrol (ABP) saw the writing in the sand about the lifeguard shortage and decided to do something about it. They did two rounds of testing, rather than just one. The first was in mid-May, followed by the traditional test date of the first Saturday in June. ABP also made an attempt to hire guards sooner, before they were hired by other beach patrols.
“We heard lots of stories about lifeguard shortages in general, and one thing that happens, guards get scooped up because they couldn’t wait to be hired,” ABP Chief Matt Wolf said.
Early testing and a competitive wage helped Avalon hire 122 lifeguards for the summer of 2022.
Like other beach patrols though, Avalon feels the pinch this time of year.
“We always bleed guards this time of year,” Wolf said. “Most of our workforce are college age, but we have more people this year.”
Avalon covered 22 beaches through Labor Day and will have eight protected beaches for the two weekends following Labor Day.
Steele said the SICBP loses a lot of guards who are returning to college, especially those attending southern schools, which seem to start earlier. When he started lifeguarding in 1968, he said none of the guards left before Labor Day. Now they are losing guards by mid-August.
He said the SICBP is fortunate to have some guards in their 50s and 60s who can stay later in the season. There are also schoolteachers who return to work but who are available on the weekends.
“We have a couple of kids coming back for the weekends,” North Wildwood Beach Patrol Chief Bill Ciavarelli said. “This time of year, the colleges and schools want them back.”
Steele said a number of high school-aged lifeguards are pulled away by participation in sports. He understands that, saying, “The nature of the job is that they are athletic.”
Wolf said the athletic nature of his staff was born out by them doing well in 2022 lifeguard competitions.
“We had a really good staff of good athletes and a really good competitive team. Having high-end athletes make things safer,” he said.
Wolf says the ABP has had nearly 500 rescues so far this season. They define a rescue as making physical contact with a bather. Different beach patrols break down their activities into different categories: assists, fish-outs, self-contained rescues, runs, etc.
Steele said the SICBP uses the term “flag-rescue,” when help is needed from guards at other stands. He said in a typical summer they will have 10 to 15 flag rescues. This summer there were only a couple.
“I think the surf conditions were better,” he said. “Also, the water was cold in June and July and not as many people were going in the water.”
Temperatures can have a big impact on the life-saving business. The ABP rescue count was down in July and the first part of August. At the same time, Wolf said he believes the warm air temperatures at the beginning of the season might have contributed to drownings, especially where beach patrols weren’t fully staffed and not all beaches were protected.
At least 14 people drowned across New Jersey before the official start of summer, June 21, including three in Cape May County. Emergency personnel in Wildwood were called to Andrews Avenue beach May 31, and the Youngs Avenue beach June 8. The day before there was a drowning at the Syracuse Avenue beach in Wildwood Crest.
Preventing drownings on guarded beaches is generally a matter of pride for beach patrols. But most drownings tend to occur when there is no lifeguard on duty.
Steele said drownings tend to be rapid, silent and deadly. The circumstances of a drowning tend to develop quickly. They are quiet because a drowning person often cannot call out.
As of Sept. 6, the Ocean City Beach Patrol began patrolling its beaches with three mobile response teams. This will continue through September. The mobile teams, which include guards on personal watercraft and guards on ATVs on the beach, will be based around First, 12th and 34th streets. Lifeguard stands will continue to be staffed daily at some of the most popular downtown beaches, including Eighth and Ninth streets.
Many beach patrols, such as North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Sea Isle City, also plan to have a response team available for emergency calls. Each of those municipalities will conclude full coverage on Sept. 11. Both North Wildwood and the Crest will have some beaches guarded on weekends in September.
Have any thoughts and/or information on this story? Email csouth@cmcherald.com.
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