Two more people have drowned in the Big Apple, as a national shortage has left the city with half as many lifeguards this year compared to last and nearly a third as many as 2016, data obtained by The Post shows.
At least 20 people have drowned in New York and New Jersey waters since April, as the shortage hits home as swimmers continue to swarm unprotected shores to beat the heat, even though summer doesn’t start until Tuesday.
As of June 15, the city Parks Department said they’d certified 516 lifeguards so far this season.
That’s a 49 percent drop compared to the 1,013 hired in 2021 and a 66 percent plunge from the 1,530 lifeguards hired in 2016.
“As with every year this is a rolling process and we will continue to re-certify returning lifeguards up to the July 4th weekend,” said Crystal Howard, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
A sign memorializing Daniel Persuad, one of the teens who drowned in Jamaica Bay earlier this month. Gregory P. Mango
Ryan Wong and Persuad drowned after the sand bar they were standing on collapsed. Facebook/GLoria Wong“Five hundred and sixteen is not the final number for this season.”
There have been 15 tragic drowning deaths in New Jersey and five in New York, most in the past two weeks.
The girl, 16, was swimming near Beach 108th Street when she went under and was pulled out by civilians just after 6 p.m., police said.
About 20 minutes later, the man, believed to be in his 20s, got into trouble off Beach 98th Street, cops said.
Both victims had been swimming in prohibited areas, parks officials said. They were also in the water after 6 p.m., when lifeguards leave for the day.
The grim scorecard also includes:
New York underwater search and rescue investigator Andrea Zaferes compared a poor swimmer going into water to jumping into a fire. DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT- On April 22, New Milford NJ HS student Clinten Ajit, 18, drowned in a town pond after attempting to retrieve a soccer ball.
- Alfred Williams, 19, of Pennsylvania, lost his life while swimming in the ocean off a Wildwood, NJ, beach May 31.
- Joel Green, 53, also of Pennsylvania, perished June 7 after swimming at Wildwood Crest, NJ.
- On June 10, two teens drowned while swimming with friends in Jamaica Bay. Ryan Wong and Daniel Persaud, both 13, were standing on a sandbar in Jamaica Bay near Beach 96th Street and Cross Bay Boulevard around 11:40 a.m. when it apparently collapsed and they went under, cops said.
- Fernando Perez, 24, of Lake Hopatcong, NJ, drowned while swimming off a Belmar, NJ, beach June 13.
- Elizabeth Treharne, 59, of Toms River, perished after being swept away in Island Beach State Park in Jersey around 8:20 p.m., June 13.
- A 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man were at Mine Hill Beach at Sunset Lake in Morris County around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, when they went into the water and never emerged. Both bodies were recovered.
“It’s frightening. … What people don’t understand is that if you are not a good swimmer, jumping into water that is over your head is like jumping into fire,” said Andrea Zaferes, 56, an underwater search and rescue investigator who teaches diving and water rescue to fire, law enforcement, EMS, and the military.
When it comes to swimmers in distress, “the average non-swimming adult will struggle for about a minute and then go under. For a child, it’s 20 seconds. That’s not a lot of time,” Zaferes said.
The Ulster County-based safety expert noted that 10 people drown each day in the U.S and 40 people drown every hour worldwide, according to the Center For Disease Control and World Health Organization.
In many of the New Jersey drownings, there were no lifeguards present or the victims were swimming in places that were off-limits, according to NJ.com.
Mayor Adams this week pledged to “think outside the box and see what we can do” about resuming swimming lessons. He also contended that a pay raise wasn’t the answer to the national lifeguard shortage, noting lifeguards do their job “because of the love of the swimming, because of the love of protecting people. … It’s not about dollars and cents.”
The starting salary for a city lifeguard is $16.10 an hour, Parks officials said.
New York City will continue to hire lifeguards to address the shortage until July 4. J.C.RiceZaferes didn’t mince words on the repercussions of the lifeguard shortage: “I cannot imagine how it will not increase the risk of people drowning,” she said. City beaches opened Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 28. NYC outdoor pools officially open June 28.
“I don’t go in the water without lifeguards. I know myself I’m not the best swimmer and you never know what can happen in that water,” Michelle Sanchez, 38, of Ozone Park told The Post at Coney Island beach on Saturday afternoon. “I go up to where I can touch and if there is a lifeguard there. If there is no lifeguard there, I’m not going to get in.” In response to the latest drownings she noted, “Rockaway is known for sinkholes. The current is very strong.”
Pools across the country have struggled to hire lifeguards in a tight labor market. Around a third of the country’s 309,000 pools are in danger of being unable to even open, according to the American Lifeguard Association.
Said one veteran lifeguard on the national shortage: “Years ago the lifeguard pay was above minimum wage. Now we are basically at minimum wage…To go through training and become a lifeguard is maybe not as attractive as it used to be.”
The lifeguard said the key to preventing tragedies is “a very simple thing… People shouldn’t be swimming alone but people do it. Swim where a lifeguard is always because even Michael Phelps can drown if he has a seizure or cramp. It’s a common sense approach. If somebody can’t see you then they can’t save you.. It’s like playing in traffic — it’s not a good idea.”
Big Apple parks officials canceled outdoor swim programs in 2020 due to COVID-19 and again last summer due to hiring challenges.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago
Source: City Parks Dept.
