In light of the recent drownings over the Memorial Day weekend, the North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Division is asking beachgoers to educate themselves about ocean safety and get advice from lifeguards about water conditions and only swim in front of lifeguards.
“Prevention is key as you we have a lot of vacationers and the message to them is to go to a lifeguard tower, and ask about hazards of the day,” said beach patrol officer Patrick Brafford.
Brafford went on to explain that rip currents are always strong two hours before and two hours after low tide, and swimmers need to remain calm if they find themselves trapped in a rip current and swim out of the current first and tread water, float and signal for help.
“We have 54 lifeguard towers and we want people to take advantage of the pretty large staff out there,” said Brafford.
Brafford also said that the best defense to save your life is to remain calm and not panic, because eventually the rip current will dissipate.
"It's going to stop carrying you out you're going to float, tread water try to escape either right or left whichever way is going to be easy to make a headway," explained Brafford.
Brafford said that the beach is in the process of hiring 80 lifeguards and putting them through vigorous job training such as first aid CPR, rip current awareness and recognizing hazards.
"Our primary job is public education, these life guards and beach patrols here have safety pamphlets on hand for the public and we also give free of charge wrist bands to parents so that they can keep track of their children," Brafford said.
Brafford recommends beachgoers to visit www.usla.org or www.nmblifeguards.com for more information on how ocean safety and prevention.
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