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When it comes to beach safety,
By Lisa Newell
Splash!
He’s
got your
BACK
 | | Lisa Newell/Splash!
Bob West, Santa Rosa Island Authority’s Public Safety Manager, hopes to prevent any drownings in 2005. |
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As students from Escambia County, Pensacola Junior College and University of West Florida flocked to the beach for spring break, Bob West, manager of public safety for the Santa Rosa Island Authority, watched clouds roll in and waves kick up at Casino Beach.
Red flags were hoisted, and the signs were put up to warn beachgoers to stay out of the water.
West hopes to have another year without a drowning. The last drowning on Pensacola Beach occurred in August of 2003.
"Your chances of drowning on a lifeguarded beach are one in 18 million,” West says. “There has never been a drowning here on a lifeguarded beach.”
West thinks he has enough qualified lifeguards patrolling the beach this season, gauging by the record number of applicants.
This year poses a problem for West because Pensacola Beach lost 1.3 cubic yards of sand and sandbars are more pronounced and that translates into more rip currents.
There’s a corral around Casino Beach with fences on each end of the area where hurricane cleanup continues. One fence is at Avenida 10 on the eastern end, and the western end is near White Sands condominiums.
Lifeguards will patrol Casino Beach and Quietwater Beach. Swimming areas Park East and Fort Pickens are both closed due to Hurricane Ivan.
Pete Moore Chevrolet donated two 2005 patrol trucks to replace the two 2004 trucks donated last year.
The trucks are instrumental in beach safety because the lifeguards can quickly patrol unguarded beaches which stretch the length of Santa Rosa Island.
Before you go back to the beach this year, remember to keep safety as your number one priority.
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