Ocean and open water lifeguards across California should be considered first responders, lawmakers say, a title that could help create a blanket designation for agencies across the state.
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The California Legislature passed what’s called a concurrent resolution on Thursday, Aug. 20, saying it recognizes professional open water lifeguards as first responders “in acknowledgment of their essential role in emergency response, public safety and drowning prevention.”
The move doesn’t codify into law that recogniztion, but advocates hope it will help a similar federal bill pass in the coming weeks.
Still, the California Surf Lifesaving Association called it a “landmark acknowledgment.”
“This resolution highlights what lifeguards demonstrate every day: The courage, training and lifesaving expertise required to protect Californians and visitors in our oceans, lakes, and waterways,” CSLSA President Gustavo J. Avila said in a statement.
The hope is that the designation will help strengthen public understanding of the services lifeguards provide, as well as encourage continued investment in training, staffing and needed equipment, Avila said.
While many lifeguarding departments in Southern California have been folded into their local fire department and are already considered first responders, the designation is not universal across the state and country. Local agencies called the move long overdue so the lifeguards have access to benefits similar to police and fire.
There’s a bill, authored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, moving through the U.S. House so the first responder designation can be applied to lifeguards across the country.
Mathew Giachetti, chair of the United States Lifesaving Association’s First Responder Advocacy Committee, is spearheading the effort, first noticing that lifeguards were not able to get vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic as early as police and firefighters.
In addition to early access to vaccinations during pandemics and outbreaks, the federal bill would allow for better compensation, which could help with ongoing staffing shortages and give mental health protection and workers’ compensation for emergency responders who experience traumatic events during their duties, Giachetti said.
The discussions are happening at a time when videos have surfaced showing rescues across California as big waves in recent months have put lifeguards to the test — including a viral video of Santa Cruz lifeguard Ryder Williams clinging to a 10-year-old boy that gave the world a glimpse at the harrowing task lifeguards face, a job that requires them to risk their own lives to rescue another in the wild sea.
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Williams recently met with President Donald Trump, who said he had to rewatch the viral video after seeing the heroic rescue.
“What you did was incredible, and everybody saw it,” Trump said during a recent Oval Office visit.
“Maybe lifeguards don’t get the credit they deserve; this really showed how important it is in certain areas,” he said.
In a statement shared through California State Parks, Williams said: “I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to return the child to his family safely. This is my job, and I love what I do. I’m thankful to my fellow lifeguards who perform rescues just like this every day.”
The state resolution would not require changes to compensation, benefits, employment classifications, collective-bargaining agreements or existing labor agreements.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, an Encinitas Democrat who co-authored the resolution, said her 18-year-old daughter is a California State Ocean Lifeguard.
“The reality is that they are doing lifesaving work and they are doing it in the ocean, where there’s not a police officer or a firefighter who is swimming out to rescue someone who needs help,” said Blakespear, who represents communities in southern Orange County.
Blakespear intends to follow up to make the designation a law, according to her staff.
“There’s a hierarchy to law enforcement, and being recognized as a first responder would make it clear that what they are doing is on par with police and fire in terms of the response,” she said.
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