Anyone who’s visited Santa Monica has seen them, heard them, felt their presence. Now, the area’s lifeguards are humbly asking for a little presence of their own on the national level.
Local lifeguards, the United States Lifesaving Association and FOX came together at the Santa Monica Pier on August 31 for the "Lifeguards First" campaign, aiming to give open-water lifeguards the same federal "emergency first responder" designation as police officers, firefighters and EMTs. The campaign is raising awareness for Concurrent Resolution 41, currently in the US House of Representatives, which would officially recognize open-water lifeguards as first responders.
If passed, the resolution would bring benefits such as giving lifeguards the ability to deploy alongside their first responder contemporaries in times of crisis, such as large flooding situations. It would also give additional benefits to families of those who died in the line of lifeguard duty, something Santa Monica Harbor Patrol Lifeguard Jared Kingsbury would be grateful to have.
"That way, [us] putting our lives out there on the line, [we] make sure that our families are protected at home if something like that happened," Kingsbury said.
Lifeguards indeed put their lives on the line every day, with Kingsbury now in his 20th year of service in Santa Monica. Stating he learned to surf and boogie board in the city as a child, Kingsbury turned a college job into a dynamic career, particularly in the one-of-a-kind locale of Santa Monica. While many see lifeguarding as a beach-only task, Harbor Patrol is also set up to deal with all form of crisis around the Pier.
"Santa Monica is a unique city," Kingsbury said. "It almost doubles in population just during the day … we have many [unconventional] calls as lifeguards at the end of the Pier. We deal with anything from somebody [making] a drunken bet to jump off the Pier, to those that maybe want to take their life, and we can intervene and help them get the help they need."
After checking the surf and patrolling the beach first thing in the morning, Harbor Patrol lifeguards respond to any and everything during the day, from major medical emergencies to search and rescue, both for people and dangerous property.
"Once in a while, somebody will dispose of a weapon, thinking that’s a great place [to hide it] and they’ll be able to see it," Kingsbury added. "Sometimes we have to do search for evidence under the Pier. So with our dive training, we’ve been able to, most of the time, have a good [sense of] location to be able to recover that item."
Stating that lifeguarding has "become more professional" in his 20 years on the job, with a new level of communication between lifeguards and first responders, Kingsbury believes Concurrent Resolution 41 would sway job-seekers into a career in the service.
The campaign was given a boost by FOX in advance of the network’s new show, Rescue: Hi-Surf, premiering on September 22. The show, similar to what the smash hit 911 did for police officers, follows the lives of lifeguards on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii. FOX Executive Director of Events & Strategy Annie Geffroy noted that she was caught by surprise that the show’s subjects were not given the same designation as police or firefighters.
"As we were developing the marketing campaign around this series, we realized that lifeguards are not recognized as first responders at the federal level … we obviously see that they’re putting their lives on the line for us every single day, just like [other first responders], so they deserve the same recognition … FOX has a big platform and a big spotlight, and we’re putting a lot behind this series, [so] we thought why not use some of that for good as well and raise awareness about this issue."
Growing up in California beach cities like San Diego, Geffroy added that the ocean is "beautiful and wonderful," but also "really powerful," and that the tribulations of lifeguards shouldn’t be taken for granted.
"You learned growing up, never turn your back on the ocean," Geffroy said. "So I think [lifeguards have] always been a part of anyone who lives in a beach, beach community or beach-adjacent city … I think now being involved with this show and learning more about behind the scenes of what [they do], the extensive training that they go through … they should get the same billing. They certainly deserve it."
To send a message to US representatives in support of Concurrent Resolution 41, visit rhsfirstresponders.com/
thomas@smdp.com
