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La Niña summer safety warning
By Jo Kennett WILD WEATHER and an unseasonably cold start to summer came close to breaking records just as life saving organisations have put out safety warnings to swimmers and beach goers.
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The Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) is urging swimmers to be careful with dangerous conditions expected this holiday season.
“With warm and wet weather expected this summer as a result of La Niña, there will be an increased risk of drowning in our rivers, lakes, dams and swimming pools,” RLSS CEO Justine Scarr warned in a media release.
“Tragically, drowning deaths in 2021/22 were the highest recorded in 25 years.
“The Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report 2022 recorded 145 drowning deaths during the three months of summer alone, which represented 43 per cent of all drowning deaths across the year.
“We want people to enjoy the water safely.
Northern NSW Lifeguard Coordinator Scott McCartney called it “a very different summer.”
“It’s the first summer that everyone has been free since COVID, with a lot of international visitors as well, so it’s back to normal which is great,” he said.
“When those big lows came through with the big swell we had to close the majority of beaches.
Mr McCartney said they often get call outs on hot days when patrols have finished in the late afternoon, between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.
“Summer keeps us on our toes because there are so many hot days and the ocean is very unforgiving,” he said.
“We want people to come down during patrol hours, so if they can time that better it would be very much appreciated.
‘Don’t go swimming after hours where you might be the only person on the beach.
‘We have our Beach Safe App we would love people to download and you can type in the beach you want to go to and it will give you details about that beach.
Two swimmers also had to be rescued from the notoriously dangerous Dreamtime Beach on the south side of Fingal Head last month after they got into difficulty and were swept out to sea.
The two men in their 20s were rescued at the drowning hot spot after a woman activated the Emergency Response Beacon (ERB), alerting the Surf Life Saving NSW State Operations Centre that the men were drowning.
Lifeguards from the Australian Lifeguard Service were tasked to the incident when the call came through from the distressed young woman.
“We asked for more details from the operator in the State Ops Centre but there weren’t any because one of the girlfriends had activated the beacon and she was upset and panicking,” Lifeguard Supervisor, Lachlan Field said.
A member of the public grabbed an angel ring flotation device attached to the beacon, and raced into the water to attempt to save one of the men.
The second man was picked up and returned to shore by Mr Field aboard a surf rescue jet ski from Kingscliff. Fingal Rovers SLSC also assisted at the scene.
“Those two people are really lucky, I doubt we would have gotten there in time without the beacon,” Mr Field said.
The beacon and angel ring are at the beach access entry point on the south side of the headland, with more angel rings positioned around the top of the headland that can be thrown to anyone in the water in danger of drowning.
They were placed there after a spate of drownings over the last few years.
HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS! Summer has kicked off with wild winds and surf conditions and a reminder to stay safe
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