Spring juggling act

June Casagrande

It’s that time of year. The time when lifeguards are in rapidly

increasing demand.

As warm weather, spring break and, ultimately, summer loom, Newport

Beach’s staff of 16 year-round lifeguards need help. And though they make

it look easy to have just enough lifeguards in place at just the right

time, staffing Newport Beach lifeguards from a pool of more than 150

on-call personnel is actually an impressive feat of organization and

planning.

“It’s all based on weather, surf and crowd,” lifeguard supervisor Boyd

Mickley said.

Sometimes, increased demand for lifeguards can be pretty easily

predicted, he said. For example, the local schools’ upcoming Easter

break, which encompasses three weeks around Easter, is always time for

more lifeguards.

“Already this year, we have added staff on the last couple weekends,”

he said. “From now up through summertime on the weekends. We’ll add our

seasonal employees, say in early May, probably at a couple towers, then

additional patrol vehicles, too.”

But when Mother Nature steps in, planning falls short.

“Sometimes when the weather’s really good, we’ll get a call from a

patrol vehicle saying ‘It’s really busy out here. Could we get some

help?”’ Mickley said. “So that’s when we start calling in seasonal

employees.”

The lifeguards, a division of the Newport Beach Fire Department,

maintain a database of on-call employees. All the on-call people notify

the lifeguards of the hours they can work. Then, cross referencing needs

with availability, lifeguard supervisors start dialing the phone.

“We have a priority list of seasonal staff that have worked for us in

previous years,” Mickley said. “They’re ranked based on the number of

hours they’ve worked over the last five seasons, so it’s not just

seniority but experience.”

So far, the formula is working. Last year, when 8,694,375 people

enjoyed Newport Beach shores, lifeguards conducted 2,645 rescues. There

was one drowning, down from four in 2000.