DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Volusia County Beach Safety is gearing up for a busy spring break season while still looking to put more people in lifeguard towers.
Full-time staff is only down about three or four people, but where Beach Safety historically needs help is with its seasonal employees. They’re covered for spring break but hope to have about 130 people by the summer.
The goal for Beach Safety Deputy Chief A.J. Miller is to make sure as many lifeguard towers as possible are staffed. To make that happen during spring break, employee mandates are put in place. From there, historical data determines where they go.
“It’s also based on feedback from our staff, and that can be on a weekly, monthly or daily basis. If they see bigger crowds, we may move them to a different tower. If there is a new hotel or park that we know are going to open, we will change our priority,” said Miller.
For the past few years, a nationwide lifeguard shortage has left the agency with more holes than Miller would prefer, and that’s still the case. But last year, Beach Safety created a fall lifeguard tryout and recruitment class for the first time, and Miller said it’s made a difference.
“We actually had 13 people come out and pass that requirement, and we had four of them go through orientation yesterday, and they’ll start spring break so we can get them out a little earlier,” said Miller.
While the phrase may seem overused, Miller said always swimming in front of a staffed lifeguard tower is crucial.
“We have such a huge tidal difference in our beach that you could have no rip current in one area at low tide, then the tide comes in, the bottom changes, and we could have a rip current open up,” said Miller.
A recruit class tryout is scheduled for Saturday at the Port Orange YMCA from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The main requirement is a 500-meter swim in under 10 minutes.
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