lifeguard and flagpole update

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From the Walton Sun:

Beach safety issues, including the placement of flagpoles and lifeguards, are being resolved in Walton County.
Twenty out of the 29 flagpoles that were destroyed as a result of recent storms should be installed by the end of the weekend, Brad Pickel, Director of Beach Management for the Tourist Development Council, said.
?We have been working diligently,? manager of beach maintenance for the TDC David Sell said.
Out of the nine remaining poles to be installed, Pickel said that four will be in place after walkovers have been reconstructed. Seawalls constructed along the coast are hampering the installation of the remaining five.
?It shouldn?t take very much longer,? Pickel said.
Sell explained that from a constructability standpoint, there were a multitude of reasons reinstallation took so long, including recent storms, an unusually high water table, exposed peat and missing beach accesses.
?Good location, highly visible, that?s the key,? Pickel said about pole placement. ?We try to keep them out of the storms way, but try to keep them visible.?
According to Walton County?s Beach Activities Director Leslie Campbell, all easements for placements of the poles have been obtained. Sandestin, Seaside, Watersound and Topsail have yet to sign the contract enabling the county to install the poles.
?It should be done within this next week,? she said.
According to Pickel, the lifeguard program should be prepared for the Board of County Commissioners approval by late November or early December.
At the Walton Board of County Commissioners meeting Sept. 27, the TDC was directed to formulate a plan to post lifeguards at six regional beach accesses.
?It?s moving right along,? Pickel said.
In addition, the TDC is installing beach safety information kiosks at beach accesses.
?The trick is in finding locations (for the kiosks). It?s the last piece of the puzzle,? Pickel explained.
?Our goal is beach safety. We?ll continue working
as expediently as possible,? Sell said.

 

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Lifeguards will be posted at six of Walton County?s 53 public beach access points.
The Board of Walton County Commissioners voted unanimously to seek proposals from agencies interested in providing certified lifeguards under the United States Lifesaving Association guidelines.
?I think the county commission has taken a great leadership step,? Tourist Development Council Director Kris Titus said.
Currently, the Walton County Sheriff?s Office and the South Walton Fire District are both creating plans to submit to the board.
?We?re interested in the bidding,? SWFD Deputy Chief Sean Hughes said.
?Areas directly protected by lifeguards are not perfectly safe, but very safe,? president of the USLA Chris Brewster said.
He explained that national statistics show in areas with lifeguards on duty drownings occur at a 1 per 18 million ratio compared to estimated beach attendance to number of drownings in areas under life guard protection.
The USLA was responsible for overhauling the lifesaving program implemented by Island Authority in Pensacola. Since the implementation of a more comprehensive lifeguard program on Pensacola Beach and the Santa Rosa Island, the amount of drowning dramatically decreased, explained Brewster.
Between April 2000 and Aug. 31, 2003, there were 21 drownings on beaches controlled by the Island Authority. Since Aug. 31, 2003 there have been none.
Brewster explained that a comprehensive water safety plan is multifaceted.
?The first place to staff lifeguards is where people gather to swim. The majority of swimmers tend to congregate at the (public accesses). A significant proportion of the drowning deaths in Walton County occurred near accesses,? he continued.
Brewster explained that inland tourists may not realize the strength of the rip currents within the Gulf. Tourism generally focuses on the beautiful beaches, not the safety hazards.
?It can kill even the most experienced swimmer. Many of the deaths in Walton County occurred when someone was wading or rescuing someone else,? he said. ?The Pacific Ocean is so vast that there is surf almost all of the time. There is some degree of rip current all the time. In the Gulf, there are days when there is no surf and days when there is some surf. That?s what surprises people. You end up with a less capable swimmer who feels emboldened by normal conditions. On beaches with consistent surf, people are more wary.?
?The Gulf can be very, very dangerous. It?s very beautiful, but very danger- ous,? said Titus.
Brewster said lifeguards need to be in places and times when people are known to swim. He said there is a problem throughout Florida to terminate lifeguard duty too early during peak season. In addition, he believes there should be an ongoing education system that starts away from the beach, such as educational materials in rental properties.
?It may not be aesthetically pleasing, but aesthetics don?t matter if you?re dead,? he said.
Titus explained the county?s safety mascot Seemore the Crab will still play a large role in the TDC?s educational efforts. ?The most important thing is education, education, education,? she said. According to Brewster, swimmers need to be responsible for their actions as well. ?Anyone who is swimming takes a certain degree of responsibility,? he said.
He continued, ?once you declare your beaches are protected, you create a level of expectation within the public. You need to follow through effectively.?

 

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From Walton Sun

The Walton Board of County Commissioners refrained from voting on a proposal for the long anticipated lifeguard program Tuesday night.
Commissioners leaned toward the South Walton Fire District?s plan, which was recommended in a presentation by the Beach Safety Committee. However, they decided to wait for more information from the other two applicants.
?I was a little disappointed and a little confused,? SWDF Deputy Chief Sean Hughes said.
Lifeguard proposals submitted by SWFD, Walton County Sheriff?s Office and local businessman David Probert were to be created using county guidelines. The request for proposal asked for a program centered on the United States Lifesaving Association Guidelines, which call for two lifeguards at each station, at six regional beach accesses.
The Sheriff?s Office proposal includes one USLAcertified lifeguard at each beach access and two mobile lifeguards for $280,933 annually.
For $427,000 annually, SWFD proposes two lifeguards at each access. The program would be developed under the supervision of USLA member and academy instructor and Surf Lifesaving Australia Certified Instructor Gary Wise.
?Our goal is to have the best service possible for the most reasonable cost to the taxpayers,? Sheriff?s Office Capt. Danny Glidewell said. ?We don?t think any other agency has the infrastructure in place to do that at a reasonable cost.?
Commissioners believed the proposals could not be accurately compared since the county?s initial request did not specify the number of lifeguards they wanted at each access.
?We didn?t have all of the information,? Commissioner Cindy Meadows said. ?The presentation was just not enough to make a decision.?
The board wants to ?fine tune the scope of the services,? Commissioner Scott Brannon said.
?The RFP was very specific in nature,? Hughes said. ?We took great pains to answer what the RFP?s guidelines asked for.?
?Judging criteria seemed fair, the RPF seemed fair,? Wise said. The BCC still anticipates having lifeguards on the beach by March.
?I think it?s extremely important to keep processes moving quickly as we approach tourist season,? Brannon said. Hughes is anxious to have a program start as quickly as possible. ?I?m tired of pulling dead bodies out of the Gulf of Mexico,? he said.
The BCC will address the lifeguard proposals at its Jan. 24 meeting in DeFuniak Springs.

 

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Walton Sun editorial:

The two proposals submitted by South Walton Fire District and Walton County Sheriff?s Office perhaps illuminate the difference between law enforcement officials and rescue personnel.
The Sheriff?s proposes six stationary lifeguards and two roving ones. The Sheriff?s Office would contract with the United States Lifeguard Association to conduct one certification class each season.
SWFD has proposed 12 stationary lifeguards and a roving supervisor. It distinguishes the lifeguard training saying that lifeguards along the beach should be ?surf trained? lifeguards.
As to management of the program, the Sheriff?s proposal offers no plan for supervision other than its current beach patrol unit.
SWFD, on the other hand, spells out specifically clear lines of responsibility, including naming the person the district would hire as its hands-on chief of the lifeguard team.
It discusses the areas of responsibility of the individual lifeguard and sets out the expected response times for rescues.
The Sheriff?s proposal relies heavily on its lower proposed costs and existing resources.
The SWFD proposes a professional unit that would be proactive in preventing water accidents with the establishment of a Junior Lifeguard program and the unit working towards national accreditation under the USLA.
The Sheriff?s proposal points out that it is ?the primary enforcement unit for all state statues on the beaches.? That?s great for loud parties and drunken assaults, but I?ve never seen a shark arrested.
What we need on the beach to prevent drownings is experienced rescuers.
We appreciate all that the Sheriff?s Office does for us in keeping us safe. And we have seen his officers go into the water, boots and all in a rescue attempt. And maybe that?s our point.
We hate to think that in the event of a law enforcement emergency, that the Sheriff would have to pull any personnel off his one-man stands in order to meet that emergency. Remember when there were deputies stationed at County Roads 395 and 283? They were off duty officers paid by the county to man those two intersections. There were as many times as not when only half the number of cars and officers were there because nearby ?law enforcement? emergency calls took priority.
On the other hand, SWFD can call on any number of other nearby fire districts for mutual aid when faced with a resource shortfall.
While officers from the Sheriff?s Office have made some heroic rescues, it is the South Walton Fire District that has responded to and participated in every water incident. Their rescue officers are trained paramedics.
It has been the SWFD that has monitored water conditions and worked with Emergency Operations Center to make sure the proper warning flags were always in place.
The county delayed putting lifeguards on the beach because of the liability issues it would create. The Sheriff?s proposal is a minimalist approach and while it might be cheaper on paper, is it going to be cheaper when the county has to defend that approach in a claim by a drowning vic tim?s family?
This is one time were the lowest bid may not be the best bid.

 

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From Walton Sun

After facing local and national scrutiny regarding beach safety, Walton County will have a lifeguard program.
The Walton County Board of County Commissioners awarded the South Walton Fire District a contract to provide lifeguard services for six area beach accesses at a Jan. 24 meeting.
Within the past few years, drownings at unguarded beaches throughout the Panhandle have been the subject of national attention. On the notorious ?Black Sunday,? June 8, 2003, six people drowned on Walton County beaches.
Neighboring counties have seen a marked decrease in drownings since the implementation of lifeguard programs. Between April 2000 and Aug. 31, 2003, there were 21 drownings on Pensacola beaches. After revamping the lifeguard program, there has been zero.
?We?re very excited at the opportunity to provide this much needed program,? SWFD Deputy Chief Sean Hughes said.
Following USLA guidelines, SWFD?s proposal places two lifeguards at each access. The program will be developed under the supervision of USLA member and academy saving Australia certified Instructor Gary Wise.
SWFD?s propsal was chosen over the Walton County Sheriff?s Office proposal.
?We stand by our proposal,? Capt. Danny Glidewell said. ?We think we could have provided the best service.?
Through the beach patrol, the Sheriff?s Office wants to provide the best possible service for beachgoers, regardless of the situation, Glidewell explained.
?No matter who we have to work with or what we have to do, we?ll still provide the best service for the tourists,? he continued.
Hughes reminds swimmers that lifeguards are only a piece of the puzzle. The six county-owned regional beach accesses make up only about one mile of the 26-mile coastline.
?There are still vast areas that are going to be unguarded,? he said. ?We?ll be working with the beach patrol to get the word out there.?

 

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From Walton Sun

Walton County taxpayers won?t have to foot the bill for the new lifeguard program.
The Walton Board of County Commissioners voted to fund the program from bed taxes through the Tourist Development Council at a Jan. 24 meeting.
Bed taxes, or tourist development tax, are a local sales tax that applies to the rental of living accommodations for less than six months. Walton County charges 4 percent for property south of the Intracoastal Waterway.
Under the direction of the South Walton Fire District, the program will cost the TDC approximately $427,000.
Lifeguards should be beneficial in attracting tourists to Walton County beaches, Kriss Titus, director of the Tourist Development Council, said. A TDC survey revealed that 62 percent of people would prefer to swim where lifeguards are present.
?It is important to visitors,? she said.
Lifeguards will be an integral part of the TDC?s ongoing beach safety efforts, including public education. Beachgoers should be aware of other safety measures, such as the flag system, Titus explained.
?What we need to emphasize most is an educated consumer,? she said.

 

[Bob]

Ok all you anti-lifeguard scholars, let's here it.

 

[30A Skunkape]

Ya take a swim, ya take yer chances.

 

[Bob]

Well said for New Orleans

 

[30A Skunkape]

Maybe if we had FEMA lifeguards in place prior to the storm things would have been different