Lifeguards flag win for beach safety

As another busy summer season begins to wind down for the Surf Lifesaving WA Secret Harbour Lifeguard service, the Telegraph can reveal that thanks to the hard work of those on patrol, no major incidents have been recorded thus far.

Since starting peak season patrols in mid-December to coincide with the school holidays, two SLSWA lifeguards at a time have constantly been on patrol at Secret Harbour beach from 6am to 4pm on weekdays, with the volunteers from Secret Harbour Surf Lifesaving Club patrolling on weekends. With patrols winding back from the end of January, SLSWA revealed there had been 15 rescues so far this season, with a further 620 preventative actions taking place on local beaches.

Rockingham lifeguard patrol captain Daniel Andrew said it had been a fairly good season.

“We haven’t had any major incidents,” Mr Andrew said.

“We’ve had lots of preventatives; so stopping people from getting stuck in rips and making sure people swim between the flags.

“We’ve also had some rescues … people hopping on the board and getting dragged back in.”

Only minor first-aid was required for some of those incidents, with Mr Andrew stating most of the preventative actions came from people failing to heed warnings and swim safely between the flags. As well as patrolling in Secret Harbour, Mr Andrew’s team also covered patrols further up the coast at Penguin Island.

Mr Andrew also praised the new $5.9 million club facilities which officially opened in September last year.

“We have lots more space to store equipment,” he said.

“It’s made our operations each day that much easier.”

In February patrols will run from 6am to 2pm while patrols across March and April will run from 6am to 11am.