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2 Capistrano Valley NewsFROM PAGE ONEJf|J#mw*fa*.1*•St *MINDY SCHAUER, FILE PHOTOA Laguna Beach lifeguard surveys the ocean where a teenager went missing in February 2015 after he was swept off a rocky outcropping near Thousand Steps Beach.BEACHFROM PAGE 1Ocean drowningsIn the past decade, nearly 100 people have died off Orange Countynature of death in theocean. Last year, 13 people died off Orange County; in 3013, just four did.■» .r w'This year,, there have been two drowni12 12 11 11139784Iough the summer swrima son - when mostisdrownings happen -si ill new.“People think theocean is a big swimmingpool. They have a false sense of security.” said06 *07 *08 ‘99 1012 13 14 1516By areaSeal BeachHuntington BeachNewport Beach23928Huntington Beach. MaDana Point lrine Safety Lt. Claude Pa-3?-: •*' ■;laguna Beach 1nis. “You’re entering aSan Clemente 2wilderness area that isCamp Pendleton Ivery dynamic. It can be* am *N/A 1very dangerous place.”HIDDEN PARTBy ageOF THE JOBi farter tft sfe-p /iBeing a. lifeguard can.18-30.« d{ Jftr, .blend the mundane andT If A- 1J‘4'U 1the beautiful with the41-50* ragic.51-6012292116BeachPams, a lifeguard forHuntington Cityor years, has had hisshare* of emotional moments.He recalled an incidentin 2007 when he pulled up lo a tower to find a lifeguard with a panicked expression and his armscrossed across his chest the sign a guard useswhen he or she has seen a61-70Over 70Unknown6IRaceWhiteAsianAfrican AmericanLatino■ ike. v611968N/A 2STAFF GRAPHICsw immer go under.Lifeguards refer to the “golden hour,” the period between hearing that a swimmer has gone under and finding that swimmer. Each minute of the hour is more grim than the last, offering a smaller sliver of a chance thatthe life will be saved.“You’re racing the clock,” Fanis said.“There’s that pressure to do everything right,knowing there’s a life slake.”During the golden hour on that day, guards quickIv lined into formation to***weep the nearby waters. And they found the man,wtoo, in just under an hour. He diedOften, guards say,■re's nothing they caning a seizure. Lifeguardseventually searched forHrhis body by helicopter.On. one hand, they were relieved to find him. On the other, Fanis said,they were sobered to seefamilyexpressingtheir grief on the sand.“You realize ... their whole family haschanged.”Lifeguards also seeir share of suicides atlives just outside of water - another element of beach work that’s probably known more among lifeguards than it is among t hi* general public.Just a few weeks ago, Panis said, he had to cut down a man’s body from w here it was hanging below the cliff railings nearHuntington’s Dog Beat“I untied the knot anddo.Swimmers can have a heart attack or a stroke it he ocean just as easily as they might on land. Panis remembers a Seal Beach swimmer w ho slipped under the water while hav-the lx*ach. Some walk into the water and keepswimming until theycan’t. Others jump off a pier, sometimes withweights tied to their bodies.“People like to go to thebeach to die,” said, Newport Beach Battalion Chief Brent Jacobsen,who has been a lifeguard, for about 30 years.At least nine people inOrange County havecommitted suicide in the ocean over the past 10 years, according to co-rone r’s dat a. B u 11 h a t st a -slowlylowered himdown,” Panis recalled.WARNINGSLifeguards have a saying: Alcohol and water t mix.atAftertistie doesn’t relied ina-' ftny others who end theirpartyingdowntown bars, people sometimes think it’s a good idea to jump off a r or take a nighttime dip. But Panis warns that at most beaches there is only one guard on patrol between dusk and midnight, and it’s probable that he or she isn’t going to be nearby or even see a drunken person whentrouble happens.More than 20 of the people who died in theocean since 2006 hadsome foreign substance in their body, according to coroner data.Still, the biggest, killer,according to lifeguards and drowning statistics,are rip currents,“People are freaking out about sharks,” Panissaid. “They should bemore concerned about rip currents. Hip currents have caused moredeaths than anything] „ _ ftsaA person can be st anding in waist-deep waterand get swept into a rip, tht -ir body forced far from the sandy beach as water pulls them out to sea.Even expert watermenare not immune to the ocean’s dangers.Ben Carlson was theprot otypiea I lift *gua rd:young, fit, a surfer whospent countless hours battling the ocean's waves. Two years ago, on July 6, during a rescue in big waves, the 32-year-old Newport guard lost his life.“If it could happen to him, it could happen to anyone,” Jacobsen said.!'hat spea ks to the riousness and danger of what can happen.” NewrpO' rt ! i fegua rdchief Rob Williams is part of a newly formed groupcalled the (Jrange County Task Force on Drowning Prevention, formed byrun bythe county a Orange County Health lt;are Agency. The goal is to reduce deaths in pools and oceans around thecounty.♦Lifeguards make thousands of rescues each year. But Williams andWothers say a more important number is for the warnings the\ issue to swimmers and others before they get. into trouble.Last year, Newport Beach guards reported a record 224,000 preventive actions. The chances of dying near a guarded lifeguard tower are 1 in 1.8 million, according to the United States LifeguardAssociation.“The biggest part of our job is prevention,”Williams said.CONTACT THE WRITER:Iconnellyocregist er.com
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Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley News
Mission Viejo, California, US
Thu, Jul 14, 2016
Page 2
Full Page
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Mike M.
USA 14 Apr 2022
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