Being a lifeguard in Malibu is no walk in the park — or swim at the beach.
Dick Heinrich knows. He’s watched these waters for more than 40 years as a lifeguard with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. With two older brothers, a son named Kyle and three nephews who are also all lifeguards, you could say it runs in Heinrich’s DNA.
“There are seven Heinrichs on this beach,” the retired school teacher said. “It’s kind of a family thing. Some people jokingly say ‘This isn’t Zuma beach, this is Heinrich Beach.”
To take it one step further, Heinrich literally lives here during the lifeguard season. A lot of the lifeguards do, actually. Zuma Beach allows overnight parking and some of the lifeguards have campers to keep rental costs low and stay closer to the job.
“He’s very dedicated,” Lifeguard Capt. John Larson said. “He’s a leader. He leads by what he does. He’s trained a lot of lifeguards.”
“If the surf is a little bit rough, I’ll start walking up and down the beach, saying ‘hi’ to people and greeting them and letting them know it’s kind of rough today and to use some caution,” Heinrich said. “I like to talk to people and then it kind of sets the tone for the day.”
“Most of the guards are walking up and down the beach, not up in their towers,” Heinrich said.
On a recent Saturday at Zuma Beach, he recounted what it takes to make it as a lifeguard.
“The initial exam is a 1,000-meter ocean swim race,” Heinrich said. “You can have up to 300 swimmers. It’s really intimidating. All of these swimmers look like Olympic swimmers.”
Only a small percentage of competitors move on to the next stage from the initial race.
“They only took about 35 people last year,” Heinrich said. “Some years they take maybe up to 60. Then you have to go through a lifeguard academy, which is 10 days and they put you through a pretty rigorous training.”
It’s a tough job to get and an even more difficult job to keep, as lifeguards go through the rounds every year to ensure a position on staff. “Everybody has to be recertified every year,” Heinrich said. “We better know what we’re doing.”
Lifeguards are stationed daily at 15 different towers throughout Malibu for eight-hour shifts.
“Each year we have to go through all of the medical stuff, like recertification on CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] and AED [automated external defibrillator]. Then we have to do a timed 500-meter swim in 12 minutes. Then we have to do a scenario scene where someone is face down in the water. We have to race down and pull them out of the water, neck brace and backboard and strap them in and check to see if they are breathing. There’s a lot involved.”
The recertification process can take up to nine hours and also includes paddleboat and boating drills.
Heinrich has been through the recertification process so many times now that he could probably teach it, but he won’t be doing that anytime soon.
“I taught middle school science in Northern California. I had summers off and since I was in college going to UCLA, I’ve always had this job,” he said.
One thing Heinrich knows about the beach he works on is there’s a high caliber of men and women making sure everyone stays safe while they enjoy their time by the sea.
“I was a school teacher for 35 years,” Heinrich said. “My brother was a pilot. There are a lot of lawyers, principals, teachers, firefighters and college students. It’s a pretty educated group of people that lifeguard on this beach.”
In addition to being the watchful eyes over local beaches, the lifeguards are sometimes experts in curating an exceptional Malibu experience.
“It’s really amazing because of the ‘Baywatch’ effect,” Heinrich said. Almost every day Heinrich attests that several people want to come up to the tower to sit in the chair and have their picture taken.
“We’re almost the Chamber of Commerce for Malibu. They ask ‘Where should we eat? Where can we rent boogie boards or bikes?’”
There’s a warmth around the station that’s palpable and it’s not just the perfect 73-degree weather.
“This beach has a lot of camaraderie. You can’t have an ego on this beach,” Heinrich said. “There’s a lot of backup and we all get along really well.”
