California recognizes open-water lifeguards as first responders
By Hayley Mattson · Thu Sep 03 2026
Statewide recognition follows years of advocacy as Malibu's lifeguards demonstrate a public-safety role extending far beyond the shoreline
For anyone who lives in Malibu, the sight of a lifeguard tower along the coast is as familiar as Pacific Coast Highway itself. But the men and women stationed along Malibu's beaches do far more than watch swimmers and make ocean rescues. They respond to cardiac arrests and traumatic injuries. They perform CPR, use automated external defibrillators, control bleeding, and stabilize patients. They conduct search-and-rescue operations in dangerous surf and work alongside firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement. Along Malibu's unique coastal corridor, lifeguards can also find themselves responding to emergencies outside the water, including incidents along Pacific Coast Highway.
Now, California has formally recognized professional open-water lifeguards for the role advocates say they have already been performing for decades: first responders.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 192, authored by State Sen. Henry Stern, who grew up in Malibu, formally recognizes California's professional open-water lifeguards — including ocean, lake, and other nonsworn lifeguard personnel employed by public agencies — as first responders.
The measure passed both chambers of the California Legislature without a dissenting vote, 39-0 in the Senate and 78-0 in the Assembly, and was chaptered by the Secretary of State on Aug. 24.
For Malibu, however, the issue is more than a designation coming out of Sacramento.
The movement has significant roots along this coastline, where professional lifeguards have long served as an integral part of the community's emergency-response network.
Malibu lifeguards helped lead the effort
Among the organizations at the forefront of the California campaign has been the Malibu Coast Surf Lifesaving Association, which represents professional ocean lifeguards, primarily California State Parks lifeguards working in the Angeles District. The association's members protect approximately 20 miles of coastline stretching from El Matador State Beach toward Point Mugu — an area encompassing powerful surf, rip currents, rocky shorelines and beaches where emergency access can be challenging.
Malibu Coast Surf Lifesaving Association President Gisele Halualani, a California State Parks lifeguard, and fellow lifeguard Caleb Howard helped lead a grassroots campaign calling attention to what advocates described as the "Forgotten First Responder." The effort included a public petition, letters of support and outreach to other lifesaving organizations. Halualani was among the sponsors of SCR 192, along with Greg Crum of the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association.
The argument behind the campaign was straightforward: Professional open-water lifeguards are routinely expected to perform emergency-response functions similar to those of other recognized first responders, yet their official status can depend upon which public agency employs them. That distinction is particularly visible in Malibu.
Los Angeles County lifeguards protecting many Malibu beaches have operated as part of the Los Angeles County Fire Department since 1994 and are therefore incorporated into a traditional first-response agency. California State Parks lifeguards protecting other stretches of the Malibu-area coastline perform many of the same rescue and emergency medical functions but have historically operated under a different classification. SCR 192 seeks to establish statewide recognition regardless of the agency name on a lifeguard's uniform.
Becoming a kifeguard requires much more than being a strong swimmer
One of the strongest arguments for recognizing professional lifeguards as first responders is the extensive training required before they ever take responsibility for a crowded beach.
Los Angeles County Fire Department ocean lifeguard candidates undergo a competitive testing and selection process that evaluates swimming, running, stamina, strength, coordination, sensory abilities, environmental tolerance, and the ability to operate under stress. Candidates selected for potential employment must then pass background and medical evaluations.
Those who make it through that process enter the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Ocean Lifeguard Training Academy — a rigorous 190-hour program held over nine consecutive weekends.
The academy covers ocean dynamics, rescue techniques, emergency medical response, rescue boat operations, and other skills necessary to perform rescues and provide care in an unpredictable ocean environment.
California State Parks has similarly demanding standards.
Candidates for seasonal State Parks ocean lifeguard positions must complete a 1,000-yard open-water swim in 20 minutes or less.
They must then complete a continuous 200-yard run, 400-yard ocean swim, and another 200-yard run in no more than 10 minutes.
Those who qualify must successfully complete the California State Park Lifeguard Training Program and field training. The initial academy includes more than 80 hours of instruction in CPR, automated external defibrillator use, Public Safety First Aid, open-water search, and rescue and aquatic lifesaving techniques.
Those standards illustrate an important point in the debate over first-responder status: Professional lifeguards are not simply strong swimmers trained to pull someone from the ocean. They are trained rescuers who must transition immediately from performing an aquatic rescue to providing emergency medical care.
How lifeguard training compares with EMTs
Lifeguards and Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs, are not interchangeable classifications, and not every professional lifeguard holds an EMT certificate. But their responsibilities can overlap substantially during the critical first minutes of an emergency.
Lifeguards are trained in patient assessment, CPR, AED use, first aid, resuscitation, and other basic life-support skills. Depending upon the agency and position, they may work at the Emergency Medical Responder level or hold EMT certification.
California State Parks' requirements provide a particularly clear example of the connection. For permanent State Parks lifeguard positions, applicants must possess Emergency Medical Responder certification and professional CPR/AED certification. State Parks specifically allows an approved, current Emergency Medical Technician certificate to substitute for both requirements.
The position's required knowledge includes applying basic life support at the State Parks Emergency Medical Responder/EMT level, first-aid and resuscitation procedures, use of rescue equipment and search-and-rescue operations.
There is also something an EMT is generally not expected to do as part of ordinary ambulance-based emergency response: swim into breaking surf to reach the patient. An ocean lifeguard may have to identify a victim hundreds of yards offshore, enter heavy surf, negotiate rip currents and waves, reach and secure a panicked or unconscious person andbring that victim safely back through the surf. Only then may the medical portion of the emergency begin.
A lifeguard can go within minutes from swimming through dangerous conditions to performing CPR or other lifesaving care while waiting for additional fire or emergency medical personnel.
It is that combination of specialized aquatic rescue training, physical requirements, and emergency medical responsibilities that advocates say makes the first-responder designation appropriate.
Malibu recognized that role after the Woolsey Fire
Malibu itself recognized the broader emergency role of its lifeguards years before the current statewide effort. In February 2019, just months after the devastating Woolsey Fire, the City of Malibu honored Los Angeles County lifeguards for their commitment and service to the people of Malibu during the disaster.
Then-Mayor Jefferson "Zuma Jay" Wagner and members of the Malibu City Council presented the commendation. The moment demonstrated something Malibu residents have experienced firsthand: When a major emergency strikes this community, the role of the lifeguard does not necessarily stop where the sand ends.
During wildfires, coastal emergencies, major medical incidents and other disasters, lifeguards can become part of a larger network working alongside firefighters, paramedics, sheriff's deputies and other public-safety personnel.
For Malibu — where the ocean, mountains and PCH are compressed into a narrow corridor — those roles can intersect quickly.
The distinction between "lifeguard" and "first responder" has therefore often existed more on paper than it has in practice.
Millions of rescues and preventive actions
The statewide numbers cited in SCR 192 demonstrate the scale of the profession. According to the resolution, data collected from 46 California lifeguard agencies showed that between 2000 and 2025, open-water lifeguards protected more than 4.5 billion visitors to beaches and waterways.
During that period, lifeguards performed approximately 1.4 million rescues and more than 96 million preventive actions. Those preventive actions are an important part of lifesaving that beachgoers may never notice. A lifeguard directing a swimmer away from a rip current, warning someone away from dangerous rocks or moving visitors before conditions deteriorate can prevent an incident from ever becoming a rescue.
SCR 192 also notes that drowning rates are dramatically lower at beaches protected by professional lifeguards than at unguarded beaches. For a destination such as Malibu, where millions of visitors come to the coastline and many have limited experience with ocean conditions, that preventive role is particularly important.
Recognition does not yet mean new benefits
The new California designation is significant, but it does not immediately change lifeguards' pay, pensions or labor protections.
SCR 192 is a concurrent resolution, meaning it expresses the formal position and intent of the Legislature but does not itself rewrite California labor law.
It does not automatically provide open-water lifeguards with benefits available to some other first responders, including salary-continuation protections under California Labor Code Section 4850.
Advocates instead view the resolution as a foundation for future changes.
Formal recognition could strengthen future efforts involving workplace protections, training resources, emergency planning, mutual aid and benefits for lifeguards injured or killed while performing their duties.
California is the third state this year to formally recognize professional open-water lifeguards as first responders, following Hawaii and New Jersey.
Federal effort also underway
The effort has also reached Washington. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey, introduced House Resolution 1188 in April expressing congressional support for recognizing open-water and ocean lifeguards as first responders and emergency-response providers.
California Rep. Jimmy Panetta is among the measure's co-sponsors.
The federal effort builds upon earlier proposals and argues that lifeguards should be recognized based upon the functions they perform — responding to emergencies, treating and assisting victims and protecting life and property — rather than simply their job title. The resolution has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
The United States Lifesaving Association has been advocating for congressional support, arguing that federal recognition could ultimately help address disparities involving access to public-safety benefits, training, grants, workplace protections and inclusion in emergency planning. Advocates have also pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the lack of uniform first-responder recognition created questions about whether some lifeguards qualified for the same priority protections and resources as other emergency personnel.
A first step for Malibu's 'forgotten first responders'
For Malibu Coast Surf Lifesaving Association and other organizations that have pushed the issue forward, California's recognition is an important victory, but advocates say the work is not finished. The next question will be whether recognition on paper eventually translates into the statutory protections and benefits afforded to other professionals who perform comparable emergency work.
For Malibu, the debate also provides an opportunity to look differently at the lifeguards stationed along the community's coastline. They are there when a child is caught in a rip current.
They are there when a surfer suffers a traumatic injury.
They may be there when someone goes into cardiac arrest on the beach, when a vehicle crashes along the coast, or when a wildfire threatens the community.
They are trained to rescue a victim in an environment where even reaching the patient can require extraordinary physical skill — and then provide emergency medical care once they get there. Malibu recognized that commitment following the Woolsey Fire in 2019. Seven years later, California has taken another significant step toward recognizing what Malibu has repeatedly witnessed firsthand: When an emergency unfolds along the coast, a lifeguard may very well be the first responder on scene.