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Community Corner

'First Line of Defense' – How Ocean Lifeguards Protect You

"Lifeguards of San Diego County" author and Silver Strand Lifeguard Supervisor Mike Martino discusses the history of the profession and how lifeguards save about 10,000 people a year locally.

As a 13-year veteran Ocean Lifeguard for the State of California and on local beaches, I know lifeguards play a critical role in making sure that our beaches remain as safe as possible for the public.

Mike Martino is part of a group of lifeguards in San Diego County who work to maintain the highest professional standands for lifeguard agencies. Additionally, he has played an important role in documenting the fascinating history of lifeguards in San Diego.

Serge Dedina: I was intrigued by the mention in your book, Lifeguards of San Diego County, that the earliest reported lifeguards were in China in the early 18th century. How did early pre-20th century lifeguards operate?

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Mike Martino: The early life-saving groups were local. A group called the Massachusetts Humane Society set up a lifeboat station in 1807. The men who worked the stations were local volunteers and their rescue efforts dealt with foundering ships. Beach going for recreation and swimming was still (on a societal level) a 100 years away.

Serge Dedina: Who were some of the lifeguard pioneers in San Diego County?

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Martino: Some local pioneers are George Freeth, Louis Chauvaud, Calvin “Spade” Burns, Charles Hardy and Emil Sigler just to name a few.

Dedina: We take it for granted that very few people drown on public beaches in the U.S. anymore and especially in Southern California, but a few cases of mass drownings in San Diego played a key role in pushing public agencies to form professional lifeguard services. What was the key tragedy in San Diego that caused a major perception in understanding the need for lifeguards?

Martino: In San Diego, the major event occurred on May 5, 1918 at Ocean Beach. The surf was running somewhere in the 8-10 foot range, and a massive rip current swept beach goers off their feet and out into the swirling currents and surf. When it was all over, 60 plus people had been rescued and 13 people had drowned.

Dedina: When and where did professional lifeguard agencies evolve in San Diego County?

Martino: My best guess is that lifeguards were hired by the local private bath houses somewhere around the early 1900s. Those private businesses eventually petitioned San Diego City Council for funds to support lifesaving operations, and then those private/public relationships morphed into the government-sponsored services. The first San Diego City Guards were policemen with aquatic skills.

Dedina: Emil Sigler was a legendary City of San Diego Lifeguard. Who was he and why was so such a seminal figure in the development of lifeguarding in San Diego?

Martino: I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Emil when I researched my book Lifeguards of San Diego County. He worked as a seasonal lifeguard and commercial fisherman. Eventually, he left lifeguarding to fish full-time. Emil was the consummate waterman. He surfed, dove, fished and dedicated his life to the ocean. He lived more than 100 years and lived the type of waterman’s life most of us can only aspire to.

Dedina: Why and when did you become a professional lifeguard?

Martino: I became a seasonal lifeguard in 1986, and I did it because my best friend had been a state lifeguard and encouraged me to join. Early on, I did it to earn money for college, and then eventually pursued it as a career.

Dedina: Why do we need lifeguards to safeguard our beaches and water bodies?

Martino: Beach lifeguards—the people you see in the towers—are the first line of defense against drowning. Good lifeguards intimately know the stretches of beach and bodies of water they are assigned to protect. They provide your family with valuable information and safety advice, and then when things go bad, they come out and rescue you.

Dedina: Today, there are lifeguard agencies charged with patrolling beaches from Oceanside to the Mexican border. What type of physical skills and ocean knowledge does it take to become a lifeguard and remain a professional lifeguard?

Martino: Lifeguards have to be comfortable in their own mind. Your stimulus has to be internal, not external; 95 percent of the time, we’re just watching. When the time comes to perform, a lifeguard has to be physically fit and calm under pressure. I tell my young staff all the time, this is the closest job you can find to being a super hero.

Dedina: Are there estimates for the annual number of rescues and assists carried out annually in San Diego County by lifeguard agencies? What else to lifeguards do besides rescue swimmers in distress?

Martino: With all the agencies combined throughout the county, 10,000 rescues and assists is a good base number. Over that number and it is a busy year. Under that number and it is a slower year. We also reunite thousands of lost children with their parents, perform first aid, patrol on rescue boats and perform cliff rescues. In the case where I work, our permanent staff are state peace officers with full police powers, so we make arrests too.

Dedina: What prompted the formation of the SDR Alert or San Diego Regional Aquatic Lifesaving Emergency Response Task Force and what is its purpose?

Martino: On August 25, 2003 a helicopter crashed off the shore of Moonlight Beach. Lifeguards from throughout the county were used for the search and recovery, and the logistics and resources needed far exceeded what any one agency could provide. So after that event all the lifeguard chiefs got together to form a group that pools our resources and skills. At least once a year, all the agencies get together and train for a mass casualty/rescue and recovery drill. Most recently, we worked with the airport to train for a plane crashing in the water.

Dedina: What is it about lifeguarding that is so rewarding?

Martino: Lifeguarding is a career I have never regretted choosing. There is always something to be done. Training to accomplish, equipment to master, people to help. It’s a public service career I am proud to be a part of.

Serge Dedina is the Executive Director of WiLDCOAST, an international conservation team that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife. He is the author of Wild Sea: Eco-Wars and Surf Stories from the Coast of the Californias and Saving the Gray Whale.

He lives and surfs in Imperial Beach and worked as an Ocean Lifeguard in San Diego County from 1981-1993 where he made more than 500 rescues. Serge's son Israel will be attending the State of California's Lifeguard Training in Huntington Beach in June.

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