Florida Panhandle beaches take steps to curb drownings
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Summer is still weeks away, but already the safety of beaches in Florida’s Panhandle is a hot topic.
The debate isn’t about whether they’re dangerous, because the numbers — more than 40 accidental drownings in three years — clearly show that they are. The back-and-forth, instead, is about whether new beach patrols, more warning flags and additional lifeguards will be enough to save lives.
Critics, including relatives of victims, are pushing for even more lifeguards and stronger efforts to warn tourists that rough surf or rip currents could kill them.
But officials say the improvements are helping. Just three days after the first all-terrain vehicle patrols began here last month, a lifeguard rescued a 19-year-old man who had ignored a red warning flag to keep out of the water.
“I can unequivocally tell you that we would have had our first death already,” said Bob West, Pensacola Beach safety director. “We didn’t and that alone — that boy going home to his mom — that’s immeasurable.”
West gives part of the credit to the new ATV patrols, but a regional representative for the U.S. Lifesaving Association, or USLA, insists patrols are no substitute for stationary guards.
“A patrol goes by and then it’s a good 45 minutes to an hour before that guy comes back,” Bill Soltz said. “If you just happen to be there when he’s going by or in the vicinity and you can stay alive long enough you’re going to get rescued.”
Pensacola Beach, where seven people drowned last year, created the patrols by adding three lifeguards for a total of 26 full-time and seven relief positions. They watch over more than 8 miles of beach.
In Walton County, about 50 miles east of Pensacola, six people drowned last year, all on June 8. The county still has not one lifeguard for its 26 miles of beach.
Lifeguards are a possible long-term solution but weren’t considered this year because of too little time to start before the summer beach season, said Robert Shelton, chairman of a Walton County beach safety and education committee created after the deaths.
Walton, however, has obtained a rescue boat, is putting up more warning flags and signs, adding identification numbers to the poles and planning a safety awareness program for children.
The University of Florida is planning a study there to help predict rip currents and the National Weather Service is offering more timely and longer range surf forecasts.
The Walton victims included former CNN reporter Larry LaMotte, 60, of Atlanta. He drowned while trying to rescue his 12-year-old son, who made it to shore unharmed. Red flags were flying, but the gulf was filled with people.
“I would not have let my children step toe in that water if I’d had any idea that it was that dangerous,” said LaMotte’s widow, Sandee.
She said no one warned them when they checked in during their vacation or at the beach, although a sheriff’s deputy drove by. Only later did she find an explanation of the red flag at the bottom of a flier on beach rules mixed with restaurant menus at their rental unit.
A state law passed last year encourages, but does not require, a uniform system of five beach flags: green for calm, yellow for caution, red for danger, two reds for closure and purple for hazardous marine life.
Some communities have adopted it, but Pensacola Beach is sticking with three flags: green, yellow and red. So is Panama City Beach, which flies a blue flag for calm.
Pensacola Beach’s West said more flags add confusion and local officials are reluctant to pass an ordinance to enforce beach closure.
Lamotte plans to join with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and USLA on May 24 in Wilmington, N.C., to announce a national rip current awareness project.
She also is seeking national legislation requiring beach property owners and rental agencies to get signed statements from guests confirming they have read and understood safety information. She wants to call it “Larry’s Law.”
The Florida Health Department began a beach safety investigation after the June 8 deaths. Its report has not been released, but West saw a draft that included a survey taken of beach visitors on a red flag day. Sixty percent who knew what the flag meant admitted going into the water anyway.
“That’s a really scary figure,” West said. “That says it doesn’t matter what we do in the way of prevention, 60 percent of 1.4 million visitors could drown.”
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On the Net:
U.S. Lifesaving Association: http://www.usla.org