Beach attendance, rescues up in ’06

New statistics released by the Newport Beach Fire Department reveal that both beach attendance and lifeguard rescue incidents were up in 2006 compared to the year before. Authorities said the numbers reflected a hot summer that gave many people a reason hit the beach to escape the heat.

About 7.6 million people enjoyed the sea and the sand in Newport Beach last year, up from 6.7 million the year before. That led to a near-doubling in ocean rescues from 2,257 to 3,916.

Nearly every kind of incident that lifeguards track showed an increase, from boaters requiring assistance to patients requiring medical aid to people lost on the beach and reunited with their friends and family.

There were no drownings in 2006, according to lifeguard statistics.

“Two-thousand six was really an average year in terms of attendance,” said Jennifer Schulz, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department, the agency in charge of the lifeguards. “We’ve had plenty more people on the beaches before.”

Indeed, the Newport Beach Lifeguards’ website, which posts statistics on beach attendance running back through 1985, reveals that 2005 was an unusually slow year when it came to attendance and rescues. Last year represents a return to the norm rather than a spike upwards.

Schulz said that the high mark was in 1997, an El Niño year, when about 11.6 million people swarmed the beach. That year had 7,014 rescues.

2007 is expected to be another hot year, and attendance will likely stay even or increase, she said. The fire department will soon start recertifying its seasonal lifeguards and hiring new ones in order to keep up with the crowds. There will be tryouts for new lifeguards on March 18.

“The people who get high running and swimming scores will get invited to our training class,” she said. “We usually end up with about 40 new lifeguards.”

The starting pay range for a new lifeguard is $15.50 to $17.09 per hour, according to the lifeguards’ website.

Newport Fire Chief Steve Lewis released a statement saying that the lifeguards were doing a fine job and he expected it to continue.

“We feel that we are second to none in the service that we provide,” he said. “We look forward in 2007 to again providing the beachgoers with the best service and protection available.”