NJ lifeguards start shift early to rescue 9 beachgoers at once

OCEAN CITY — Another close call over the weekend is a reminder to not go near water unless a lifeguard is present.

6 ABC in Philadelphia reported nine beachgoers had to be rescued from the ocean after falling off the 9^th Street jetty Saturday morning.

The outlet said the incident happened before lifeguards took to their posts. Luckily, the lifeguards were in the middle of their morning meeting streets away and were able to respond.

“We were able to jump into our vehicles and report down to the incident. It was a couple of people who got into trouble and some good Samaritans who jumped in to help them,” said Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP) Captain Paul Boardman to 6 ABC.

On OCBP’s website, they list the hours and specific locations of areas under their supervision. You can find the list here.

According to an OCNJ Daily article from 2023, the beach patrol was again labeled as a “Nationally Certified Agency” by the United States Lifeguarding Association (USLA) and mentioned it’s good for three years. The first certification of this type for OCBP dates back to 2002. In the 2023 report, the outlet mentioned 13 total New Jersey patrols have a similar status.

USLA touts on its website, through 10 years of data, that there’s a 1 in 18 million chance of a person fatally drowning at one of their nationally recognized beaches.

New Jersey 101.5 reached out to OCBP for further comment, but we haven’t heard back.

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