The ATVs are equipped with basic first-aid supplies, a burn kit, an oxygen tank and a defibrillator. In fact, there is so much equipment to haul that they split it up on two ATVs and both respond during a serious emergency. In the five years they've been equipped with a defibrillator, they've shocked approximately six people, resulting in three saves.
The lifeguards must go through an eight-hour training course before operating an ATV on the beach. After gathering information from several safety institutes along with internal information provided by local and state authorities, Crow developed his unit's ATV training program. He even included information in the owner's manual for the tests.
The ongoing training process happens on different parts of the beach. "Wherever the need for a rescue is where we need to train," Crow explained. This includes the nearby parking lots where people have collapsed from heatstroke or a heart attack, and part of the training is climbing the concrete steps leading to those lots. Some parts of the beach have small drop-offs where the dry and wet sand meet. "We train by driving up and down these berms, so that in an event where we need to do it quickly, we can do so in a safe manner avoiding any further injury by beach goers or our own staff members."
This is one of those occasions we understand not wearing any safety gear except for helmets. Time is everything on this job. The lifeguards train in the same gear they'd be wearing while on duty. In some cases this means they wear flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt. If responding from inside the office, they would be wearing shoes instead of the flips. "If we're not already in the water by the time a drowning victim thinks they need help, it could be too late," Crow said. Although most saves are made by the lifeguard in the towers, you could see where it would eat time removing riding boots and gear to jump in the ocean and rescue an injured surfer or fatigued swimmer.
Now that the lifeguards have a feel for how useful their ATVs have been, they can see the potential for more use. "We're looking into getting a 4x4 ATV, maybe a 500cc that could pull our personal watercraft (PWC) to the water's edge instead of using the trucks. This could save time and free up another truck," Crow said. Except for training, the 4x4 unit would sit hooked up to the PWC trailer, ready to go on a moment's notice for a deep-water rescue.
Besides the glamorous job of rescues (picture your favorite "Baywatch" lifeguard), the ATVs are an efficient way to relieve the lifeguards between shifts, speeding up the process and disturbing less people than if in a truck. The ATVs have also enabled the guards to do night patrols easier. The little Hondas can carry almost as much gear as their trucks, yet are much easier to maneuver around the popular California beach.
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