Panama City Beach sees dip in beach rescues thanks to proactive lifeguards

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Though beach rescues are heroic, they might not be the best indicator of a successful lifeguard program .

According to Daryl Paul, beach safety director for Panama City Beach Fire Rescue, it is better for lifeguards to be so proactive in educating beachgoers that they are less likely to put themselves in dangerous positions that force lifeguards to enter the water.

As of Tuesday, Paul noted that Beach lifeguards so far this year have conducted more than 182,000 preventative actions, 308 public assists and 99 rescues.

This is a stark difference to the same numbers from all of 2023 , when Beach lifeguards conducted about 172,000 preventative actions, 2,542 public assists and 237 rescues.

Preventative actions are when a lifeguard prevents someone from needing assistance. Public assists are when a lifeguard enters the water to prevent someone from needing to be rescued. Rescues are when someone was pulled from the water who likely would have otherwise drowned.

"You don't want to have a lot of rescues, and that's simply because the lifeguards' work is proactive, and we prevent the need for rescues," Paul said. "What the trend is showing is that our lifeguards are now empowered to be a little more productive, and their making more preventative actions. That is reflecting on the lower number of rescues and public assists.

"We're only half way through the year, and we're already over 10,000 preventative actions ahead of last year."

While Paul did not know specific numbers for how many rescues happened under yellow flags compared to single and double-red flags, he did say that, anecdotally, the majority of local beach rescues happen during single-red-flag conditions.

These are the same conditions that have led to all of the area's recent drownings. Seven beachgoers have drowned so far this year while swimming in the Gulf off the coast of Bay County.

Of these, three happened within the city limits of PCB. They were on March 27 near Beach Access 36, June 20 near Beach Access 54 and June 24 near Beach Access 54. The four others happened off unincorporated beaches. Three were on June 21 near Beach Access 12, and was one on June 23 near Beach Access 96.

As of Tuesday, there also had been two fewer beach drownings in Bay County this year compared to 2023.

All of the drowning victims, from this year and last year, were tourists who got caught in rip currents, or fast-moving currents created by channels in sandbars. The channels run perpendicular to the shoreline, causing water to funnel faster out into deeper waters. Rips can vary in strength, depending on how developed the channels are. They can sometimes be identified from shore where there is a gap in the wave break — areas where the white caps of the breaks are less noticeable.

Because rip currents are a main threat to local beachgoers, beach flags posted throughout Bay County do not represent wave height, but the strength of rips at that time. That's why red or double-red flags can fly even when surf conditions appear calm from the shore.

It's also why beachgoers should never underestimate yellow-flag conditions. Though the majority of local rescues happen under single-red flags, Paul noted there still are others that happen under yellow flags, as well as under double-red flags when swimmers should not even be in the water.

Common flag colors used in beach flag warning systems include a green flag for low hazard conditions, a yellow flag for medium hazard conditions, one red flag for high hazard conditions and two red flags for very dangerous conditions.

Panama City Beach and Bay County, however, never fly green flags because officials say beachgoers should always be cautious anytime they enter the Gulf. It is illegal in Bay County to swim in double-red-flag conditions under penalty of a $500 fine.

Beach safety: 'It was so busy': Panama City Beach lifeguards rescue 21 beachgoers in one day

To sign up for daily text alerts on local beach flag conditions, text "PCBFLAGS" to 888777.

"Flags and signs are informative things," Paul said. "They inform people, but they don't actually stop you on the shoreline and say 'hold up, you're about to make a bad decision.' Lifeguards, by their nature, prevent the need for rescues.

"At the end of the day, we're squeezing every little thing we can out of this lifeguard system with the current staffing that we have."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach sees dip in beach rescues thanks to proactive lifeguards