Beach to get lifeguard proposal
6/26/2008
By ED OFFLEY, Florida Freedom Newspapers
PANAMA CITY BEACH - A 19-year veteran of open-surf lifeguard rescue has prepared a detailed proposal for creating a Panama City Beach Lifeguard Service to provide protection along the city's 9.2-mile beachfront beginning next summer.
Mike Hudson, a Panama City Beach resident and coordinator of the 3-monthold Bay Medical Center EMS Surf Rescue Unit, prepared the detailed proposal after the May 24 rip current emergency that led to two drownings and more than 100 rescue calls for swimmers trapped in the dangerous surf. He said he plans to present the organizational concept to the City Council at its regular meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.
Hudson previously worked with Walton and Okaloosa counties as those two governments organized manned lifeguard programs after the June 2003 "Black Sunday" disaster, when eight swimmers died in one day. As a Beach resident, Hudson said he has recognized the need for such a program here for several years.
"The event of May 24 was the catalyst to get this project serious consideration," Hudson said Wednesday.
"May 24 showed that the system we have in place now is inadequate," he said, referring to the flag warning system that alerts swimmers to changing surf conditions.
Hudson, who had been updating plans for a possible lifeguard service, said he was heartened when City Councilman Ken Nelson put the subject on the City Council agenda for today. In recent days he has been briefing city officials on the outline of his proposal.
As currently proposed, the Panama City Beach Lifeguard Service would include, among other things:
Ten lifeguard towers, including a main tower at the M.B. Miller Pier, serving as a centralized hub for communications. Tower locations would be at:
- Beach Access 24 (Joan Avenue and Thomas Drive)
- Beach Access 32 (Surf Drive and Beach Boulevard)
- Beach Access 35 (Front Beach Road)
- Beach Access 40 (Beckrich Road)
- M.B. Miller Pier (Alf Coleman Road)
- Beach Access 50 (Lantana Street)
- Beach Access 52 (Hills Road)
- Dan Russell Pier (Pier Park)
- Beach Access 68 (Cobb Road)
- Beach Access 76 (Deluna Road)
Each lifeguard tower would monitor a 300-yard designated swimming area running 150 yards east and west of each tower and from the shoreline to 50 yards offshore.
A staff of 30 lifeguards certified for open-surf rescue on duty serving from the second week in March until Labor Day, with lifeguards on duty from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. each day. Daily staffing will include 15 lifeguards and one supervisor. There would be one lifeguard per tower and five assigned to roving patrols. Staffing increases could occur during particularly dangerous surf conditions.
The lifeguard service would operate as a subordinate unit of the Panama City Beach Fire Department, with the full-time lifeguard supervisor in charge of administrative tasks, training and operations.
Hudson said he estimates initial startup costs for the lifeguard service would be $664,959, including equipment, administrative startup costs and salaries. Thereafter, the annual operating budget would be about $500,000, which is comparable with ongoing programs in Walton and Okaloosa counties.
Hudson said the city has a moral obligation to take action.
"Any government entity that is charged with public safety and civic protection has an ethical responsibility to provide the best possible life-saving service it can," he said.
| Article Photos | |
Click on the thumbnails to see the full size image.
|
