Record heat—check. Holiday weekend—check. Monster surf—check. Riptides, traffic, accidents—check, check, check. A busy post-July 4 weekend had first responders on their toes.
More than 50 people were rescued from the ocean on July 4 alone as the Los Angeles County Lifeguards at Zuma Beach reported heavy activity. They estimated 85,500 were in attendance at Malibu beaches patrolled by the county, including Surfrider, Corral, Pt. Dume, Nicholas Canyon and Zuma beaches. Captain Ryan Addison said there were 4,300 “prevents”—that is any time a lifeguard works to prevent an emergency before it happens, “like an ocean rescue.”
“Any time a lifeguard contacts the public to try and prevent an ocean rescue or dangerous situation,” Addison described. “If there’s a rip current and a person is about to enter the water where the rip current is, a lifeguard will contact them and say, ‘Hey you might want to swim over this way or stay out of the water for a little bit.’ That’s a prevent.”
Nearly 900 ordinances were issued. “Ordinances”—perhaps better called “ordinance violations”—include warnings against alcohol, dogs on the beach and fireworks. The public is asked to stop, but not issued a ticket or fine. Nineteen EVRs, or Emergency Vehicle Responses, were made. That’s classified as any time a lifeguard unit responds to something. And 31 people were treated by lifeguards with medical aid calls. Addison made it all sound routine, saying, “July 4 was like an average or slightly above average weekend day.
“Mind you, the rescues are all dependent on what the surf’s doing and what the tide is doing,” he continued. “If the surf is flat with small waves, we have less rescues, but there was a little bit of a wave so it created some rip currents creating rescues. It just so happened the Fourth landed on a weekday. It could have been busier.”
It did get busier. Statistics released by the LA County Lifeguards over the five-day July Fourth holiday period from Wednesday through Sunday, July 8, estimate Malibu county beach attendance was 488,216. Three hundred-sixty three ocean rescues were made, 173 calls for medical aid and 143 EVRs. In addition, a whopping 20,841 prevents were reported and 4,566 ordinances. The information was provided by LA County Lifeguard Public Information Officer Kealiinohopono “Pono” Barnes.
Malibu Search and Rescue started the holiday week with a fatality when a car went over the side on Malibu Canyon Road at 7 p.m. July 3. The operation extended into the overnight, ending about 12:15 a.m., July 4. The victim of the fatal crash was reported as a female.
Then, a young female cliff jumper broke her foot and needed rescuing by litter later in the day at Malibu Creek State Park. On July 6 in Topanga Canyon, a male hiker broke his leg. It was 117 degrees at the time of the rescue. He was airlifted by LA County Fire. MSAR was on scene as backup.
On Sunday, with near triple-digit temperatures and high humidity at Escondido Falls, a 49-year-old female hiker broke an ankle and was carried out by MSAR working together with their partners LA County Fire and McCormick Ambulance.
In the meantime, on Pacific Coast Highway in the height of the rush on July 4 to secure a spot to see fireworks, eastbound lanes of PCH near Rambla Pacifico were blocked with an overturned car accident. It took more than two hours to clear the scene. Another collision happened nearby in the 22200 block of PCH at Carbon Beach just as the first crash was clearing. That two-car collision also involved a rollover. Seven people in all were reported hurt with non-life-threatening injuries and taken to area hospitals.
With sweltering temperatures over the holiday weekend, MSAR issued a warning on social media recommending against hiking as temperatures hovered around 100. A post on Facebook said, “If you really want to partake, do so in the very early morning hours. HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE.” The post also indicated symptoms of heat exhaustion that include feeling faint or dizzy; headache; profuse sweating; irritability; weak, rapid pulse; shallow breathing; pale, cool, clammy skin; nausea, vomiting; and muscle cramps.
Symptoms of heat stroke include absence of sweating; pulsating headache; hot, red, dry skin; high body temperature (above 103); nausea or vomiting; strong, rapid pulse; confusion; convulsions; may lose consciousness. Search and rescue also cautioned hikers to always tell someone you’re going on a hike in case you find yourself in trouble.