Marine Safety

The Marine Safety Department is responsible for 4.7 miles of city coastline and 14 square miles of ocean. Marine Safety has three full time positions along with approximately 100 seasonal and recurrent positions. Lifeguard services are provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Marine Safety's primary duties are ocean rescue, emergency medical treatment, prevention, enforcement and public assistance.

The Department also provides technical rescue response in scuba search and recovery, cliff rescue, flood "swift water" response and backcountry extrication. On an average year, Marine Safety personnel rescue 1,500 beach-goes and give medical attention to another 2,500 people. Lifeguards also enforce 30,000 beach and marine municipal ordinances and issue 45,000 safety warnings annually.

The Marine Safety Department is organized into four divisions:

• Field Operation (summer)
• Junior Lifeguards
• Field Operations (off-season)
• Contractual Services

Field Operations (summer):

Summer deployment consists of 43 positions per day providing lifeguard coverage to the city, Emerald Bay and Irvine Cove beaches. Summer operations are structured into four divisions.

• Division One covers Irvine Cove to Rockpile beach and is serviced by ten lifeguard towers and a mobile unit with two supervisors.
• Division Two covers Main Beach and is serviced by 12 lifeguard positions and three supervisors.
• Division Three covers Sleepy Hollow beach to Treasure Island and is serviced by 11 lifeguard towers and a mobile unit with two supervisors.
• Division Four consists of dispatching, administrative, training and maintenance service.

Junior Lifeguards:

The junior lifeguard program is designed to instruct the youth of Laguna Beach and surrounding areas in ocean awareness and safety, self rescue skills, marine ecology, basic firs aid and responsible enjoyment of our coastal resources. Each year approximately 300 youths between the ages of 8 and 15 participate in the program. A junior lifeguard coordinator, two lead instructors, four assistant instructors and thee youth aides supervise the youths. The community Services Department handles advertising and registration for the program.

Field Operations (off-season):

Off-season deployment is initiated from September 7 to June 19. Operations during the off-season consist of three full time lifeguards and 20 seasonal and recurrent staff. Several deployment schedules (skeleton coverage and reduced coverage) are utilized to address varied seasonal and weekend demands. Winter operations are structured into four areas. Field Operations include patrol duties, marine ecological patrol, scheduled coverage, emergency incident response and night time response. Administrative Duties include all department management responsibilities.

Strict training standards must be adhered to for full time staff, winter recurrent personnel, seasonal employees, new recruits and technical rescue teams. Ninety percent of the Department's training takes place during off-season operations. Maintenance Operations require the servicing and upkeep of 27 lifeguard towers and phone lines, three mobile units, Marine safety headquarters and Main Beach tower. Ninety five percent of the Department's maintenance takes place during off-season operations.

Contractual Services:

The Department of Marine Safety contracts lifeguard services to the Emerald Bay and Irvine Cove communities during summer, fall and spring. Marine Safety services are also contracted-out for commercial film shoots along our coastline.