Posts

Message In A Bottle

/in , , , , /by

Detective Kris Pompa works for the Galveston Police Department, but years back worked as a Beach Patrol Officer/Supervisor. One day, as he was patrolling the beach in front of the condos on the east end when he spotted something unusual on the shoreline. The aquamarine blue colored bottle glinted in the sun as he stopped the vehicle and walked over to it. It was an unusual, long necked bottle. It was corked, but the cork was covered in wax that had been carefully dripped down the length of the neck. It was light and felt empty of any type of fluid. As he held it up to let the early morning sun’s rays shine through, he noticed several pieces of paper folded up inside.

Back at our headquarters we opened the bottle and pulled three sheets of carefully folded paper out. We unfolded them to find two separate letters in meticulously written German.

I asked my brother, who is fluent in German, to translate for me and sent him scanned copies. A few days later he sent me a summary. The story was heartbreaking.

Both letters were written to a one year old child who would have been just a few days short of his second birthday if he had been still alive, although it sounded like he died just shy of his first birthday. They talked about how much they missed him, including his now 4-year-old brother. At the time of the letters, he also had a younger sister. The father talked about how he wished he could play soccer with him and his siblings and how he still wants to be a better father to him and to pay more attention to him. The mother talked about how she wants to set aside an hour every two weeks to think about him and how, even though she misses him terribly, nothing can take away the fact that she was once able to hold and kiss him. They both talked about how he belongs in their family and always will. Neither says how he died.

Another lifeguard told me he found a similar message to a lost loved one from the Corpus area, but others had found the bottle and added their own notes of sympathy. He added his own, resealed it, and set it free in the ship channel on an outgoing tide.

I’ve never found a message in a bottle but it seems like a really poignant way of communicating, especially in the digital age where everything is immediate, but seems to also hold less weight.

All too many of us know how true loss freezes that last moment in time. Sending a message in a bottle reflects that. It is simultaneously both impersonal and intensely intimate. Not only are you writing to a loved one, but also to a complete stranger who finds the bottle. The idea that this stranger is connected to you both by fate, and is potentially someone who fully understands the essence of your message, seems very significant.

African American Lifeguard Monument Committee

/in , , , /by

After a full day, I climbed down a metal ladder from a flat, wooden platform with a thatched roof at 28th. It was a community beach back in ’84, and I knew most of the beach patrons by sight, if not by name. At that time, it was also still mostly an African American beach, as it had been designated either culturally or since the ‘20s.

As I made my way up to the seawall with my bicycle, I stopped to chat with 4 guys around my age or a bit older, one of which had recently graduated from Ball High with me. They were the “evening watch”, and I was never clear if they assigned themselves that role or the neighborhood leaders did. I let them know about things to watch for. As I rode home, I knew the beach was in safe hands, and that at least one of them would stop by the next day and update me on whatever happened after I left.

Years later, I ran down to stop a group of teens from getting caught in a rip current at the same location. An older African American man was already there when I arrived, yelling at them to get away from the rocks. Although he looked strong and fit from a distance, when I approached him, I could see that he was much older than he appeared. Well into his ‘80’s then OC Brown, as he introduced himself, was still full of that fire that lifeguards for life have. He told me he’d worked that beach for years and scolded me that I was a bit slow in responding. He was so impressive, and that event emphasized for me the layers of untold history, much of it involving African Americans, that is woven into our beaches and our island.

To that end, we’ve pulled together a committee that has been working on some really cool stuff, chaired by David Mitchell. The Beach Patrol, NIA Cultural Center, Old Central Cultural  Center, Visit Galveston, The Historical Foundation, Galveston Lifeguarding Inc., and others have been working on a multi staged project. Phase 1 was submission of an application for an “Undertold Story” marker on the same spot of the seawall that the “Evening Watch” sat, with the help of the County, City, and a myriad of groups that have thrown in support. The marker will honor the African American Beach and the black lifeguards that worked it.

Phase two will be a data base that profiles African American Lifeguards and black beach history. We’re looking for families and friends who can record stories of these heroes. We are also exploring the possibility of a large, sculptural monument to these lifeguards. The idea is that there will be a way to point your phone at either project and access the data base, and this will be part of a larger cultural tour of the island.

If you or anyone you know would be interesting in recording you or your family’s experience with an African American guard, please contact Alex Thomas at athomas@visitgalveston.com or 409-797-5155.

Winter Precautions

/in , , , , /by

There have been a few wake-up calls in the news about people who didn’t take proper precautions before heading out into the water.  Our year-round staff has been busy while patrolling keeping people away from rip currents near the groins and responding to a myriad of beach emergencies. Hopefully the water will stay cold enough to keep the casual beach visitors out for a couple of months so our crew can rebuild lifeguard towers and take care of all the projects we postponed until the two months we run light patrols. Of course, we’re still available for emergencies and provide rescue response 24/7.

In the winter getting out on the water requires more foresight and preparation than during warmer months. A quick dip in the water when you’re a couple miles from shore can become a serious thing without proper gear. Kayakers, surfers, kite-boarders, stand-up paddlers, etc. should wear the right wetsuit for the specific activity and conditions. When at all appropriate it’s a really good idea to not just bring a lifejacket, but to wear it. That way, when the unexpected happens, you’ll be able to float and wait for help long after the cold water prevents swimming. Sometimes in the winter, and often in the spring, the conditions are ripe for sea fog. This fog can appear all at once or as a white bank that rolls in.

Our Houston/Galveston National Weather Service office, one of the best in the country, is very tuned in to the aquatic environment and puts out all kinds of relevant marine warnings. When we see big difference between the air and water temperatures, they may put out a fog advisory, but localized fog can happen without warning. Rescue workers from all agencies associated with the “Galveston Marine Response” coalition stay busy during these times when kayakers and boaters get lost in fog in West Bay or San Luis Pass, while the Coast Guard typically handles the offshore area.

Aside from proper attire and a Coast Guard approved lifejacket there are a few other things you should do before getting on the water, especially during the winter. First, be sure someone has very specific and accurate information about where you’re going and what times you’ll be out. Having participated in hundreds of searches for people, I can tell you the more accurate a starting point a rescuer has, the more likely they are to locate the missing person. Make sure your cell phone is charged and in a waterproof case. There are a number of apps that can help you find your way around, but don’t rely on fancy electronics! Be sure you have a back up. A built-in watch compass has gotten me out of a jam more than once, and I personally never go out on the water without wearing it.

Winter on the beach and waterways in our county can be incredible, just be sure and take appropriate safety precautions. And have fun!

Triple Rescue

/in , , , , /by

Recently, two young men and a woman were making an Uber Eats delivery to Galveston and decided to go to the beach. Walking down to the sand at 26th, they saw a ton of surfers and several people out swimming in the warm water. They decided to hit the water.

As they got out to chest deep, the feeder current pulled them towards the Pleasure Pier, gently causing their feet to bounce along the bottom. A fairly strong east to west longshore current ran along the beach. As it hit the jetties and piers, most had significant rip currents on the leeward sides (west side in this scenario). These rip currents had been running for a couple of days and had scoured out pretty deep troughs on the west side of all the structures.

The trio quickly went from bouncing in the shallow waters of the feeder to getting sucked away from shore in the deep waters of the rip current. All three started panicking and went vertical in the water, struggling for each breath.

Someone spotted what was happening, and called the 911 dispatcher, who quickly notified Beach Patrol, then the Galveston Marine Response partners of Police, Fire, and EMS. The call came in that there were 5 people in distress. A minute or so later, the first Beach Patrol truck arrived, and the two Supervisors hit the water.

It was a bit chaotic as they sorted out what was what, but eventually it turned out there were three victims, and the other people were surfers who were helping the victims. This isn’t unusual, surfers probably make at least as many rescues as lifeguards, although this can come at a cost, since most don’t have formal rescue training. Two of the victims were being brought in by surfers and Beach Patrol, Fire, and EMS went to help one that collapsed. One of the lifeguards helped with this while the other, Michael Lucero, went for the third victim on a rescue board.

Michael spotted her being assisted by a surfer, who was reaching across his SUP board and holding her steady about 60 yards from shore. The rip current had spat her out about halfway out the Pleasure Pier, and they were floating quickly to the 27th street jetty. Michael approached and made contact with them about the time they rounded the end of the 27th street jetty. He attempted to get her on the rescue board, and she fell off. Then it got interesting.

The surfer got her up on his board and said, “You ever surf? No? OK 1,2,3!”, and he pushed her into a wave. She made it part way in as Michael paddled after her as fast as he could. She then fell off the board and started to struggle and go under. Michael arrived just in time, grabbed her, wrapped her in his rescue tube, and took her the rest of the way to safety.

This would have gone a different way, were it not for the surfers, and those who make it possible for us to work guards all year!

GIBP HQ Update

/in , , , , , , /by

Thirty-nine years ago, as a second-year lifeguard, I watched the current pavilion at Stewart Beach being built. Now we are inside a space that was once a night club, and barely serves our ever-growing operations. The building is almost a decade past its intended lifespan. We’ve thoughtfully considered relocation, but the most cost-effective option is to remain in the existing building until we construct a building that can adequately accommodate our day-to-day operations.  But each year we incur significant costs to maintain a building that is no longer functional and has become a safety hazard as well as an eyesore.  Galveston deserves better.

Galveston’s Beach Patrol covers all 32 miles of beach 24/7/365, intervenes in a half-million potential accidents annually, and serves over seven million visitors and residents each year. We serve more people than beaches in California and Florida with a fraction of the budgets of those agencies.  We also filter between 4 and 5 thousand calls for both EMS and police annually by first responding to medical emergencies and crowd problems, most of which we’re able to “catch and release” without tasking our already overburdened public safety partners. Galveston boasts one of the busiest, challenging, and most visited shorelines in the nation, and the demand increases every year. We will need to keep up.

With more than 140 lifeguards and dispatchers, 120 Junior Lifeguards, and another 60+ volunteers, a safe, 24-hour, all-weather sand-base facility is critical for training, working space, and supervision. To mitigate risk for our children and adults, direct access to the beach and water must be accessible without the danger of crossing Seawall Boulevard while carrying rescue equipment. When covering assigned beachfront zones, rescue vehicles need to stay on the beachfront to relay information and deliver lifesaving equipment while continually protecting beach patrons and guards. An on-beach facility is also critical in providing an unobstructed view to handle weather and medical emergencies, lost children, and command and control of our most populated beach.

The current Park Board trustees have been very responsive to the urgent need for a facility that supports and maintains one of our nation’s most professional lifeguard services. Under their direction we worked with an architecture firm to come up with the schematic design of an incredible professional home for our array of programs that would last 70 years and would include capacity for growth to match the ever-increasing demands placed upon us.  Designed to use natural breezes to provide climate control for sections of it, we can both save building costs now, and operational costs for years to come. Potential for resiliency using even more cost saving renewable energy and repurposed water will be built into the design, which could make this a tourist attraction and educational center for the public in its own right.

We’ve been squirrelling away money in our reserve fund for decades to kick this off. I’m so excited to share this design with our board, the city, and the community of Galveston next week! We trust that, despite everything else going on, we can all move forward quickly together on this critical and historical project. For Galveston.

 

 

 

Off Shore Winds

/in , , , , , /by

If there’s one thing lifeguards hate on an offshore wind day is an emergency where a person is being blown out to sea. When the wind blows offshore, it creates a unique set of circumstances that can be lethal. This is mostly a danger during the spring and fall when repeated frontal systems pass across the Texas coast. When someone is blown offshore on a floating object, they can quickly realize that it gets rougher the farther from the shoreline you drift. Short period, choppy surf pushing away from the beach is almost impossible to swim or paddle against. We don’t permit inflatable objects, which act like sails, in the water when wind blows from the north for this reason.

Dusk is the absolute worst time to get into a situation like this. The wind and waves can carry a person beyond the field of vision of a rescuer really quickly. Looking out to sea while standing at sea level only enables a person to see 3 miles or so before a floating object disappears beyond the curvature of the earth. If there are waves or chop this distance is lessened and once a person disappears over the horizon the chances of finding them drop. Add low light to the equation and the chances drop even more. In this scenario, finding someone using a boat is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We move quickly on these calls and try to keep an eye on the victim, or the “last seen point”, until we can launch a jet ski. Fortunately, we’ve saved a number of people by making an educated guess based on wind, current, and a last seen point.

A few years ago, a couple of lifeguards were out training in our surf boat on a strong offshore wind day. A surf boat is essentially a two-person rowboat with a closed bottom and big holes in the sides that allow wave water to run out. They were only about 50 yards from shore when one lost an oar and decided to swim in and get help. The other couldn’t maintain solo against the wind and as he got farther offshore the water got choppier, and the wind increased. By the time we got a jet ski into the water, we could no longer see him. It took an hour search following the direction of the wind to find him five miles offshore and another half hour to make it back to shore. We had just decided to call for a Coast Guard helicopter when we spotted the boat on the horizon. We were lucky on that one, but it shows how quickly things can go bad on those days, even for professionals.

Now that we are getting frontal systems regularly, always swim with a friend and be sure to keep a close eye on the wind direction. Stay really close to shore when the north wind blows and be extra careful about paddling out on anything that floats.

Drowning, Rescue, and Beach Event

/in , , , , , /by

Last weekend was the end of tower guarding for the season. A few towers covered with the seasonal lifeguards able and willing to give up their weekend between school or another job and work the beaches. But even with that help and our trucks patrolling up and down the beachfront, we had a drowning of a 60-year-old man at an unguarded area around 31st street. There didn’t appear to be a rip current in the area. Response was quick and a beach vendor reportedly was there to make first contact until our truck arrived. But even with a quick rescue and early CPR intervention he didn’t survive. Many thanks as always to our Galveston Marine Response partners with Fire, EMS, and Police as well as the Jesse Tree Survivor Support Program who provided a much-appreciated diffusion within a couple hours of the event itself.

Our staff went through a lot this past week. And I must hand it to them, they performed admirably under very tough circumstances. In addition to the fatality, we had a number of night call outs. One in particular was pretty impressive. Supervisor Stephen Limones made a rescue of a father and son who were caught by a rising tide way out on the south jetty. The call dropped at 2am and Stephen used a rescue board to ferry them one at a time across a cut in the rocks over to a couple of brave Galveston Police Department officers who made their way out on the barnacle and algae covered rocks to grab the pair. Stephen is a long-time guard who started with us many years ago as a Junior Lifeguard. He’s a surfer and great all-around waterman who allow works in the medical field. Good guy to have your back!

Whether or not people acknowledge it, these events take a huge emotional toll on our emergency response crews and others involved. But knowing you’re not the only group that cares means a lot. There is definitely a great team here in this county from the Emergency Operation Centers, dispatchers, first responders, and groups that provide emotional support.

Special kudos to the organizers of the annual Alzheimer’s Walk last Saturday! This is a wonderful annual event held at Stewart Beach. This year they really stepped it up with an amazing sounds system, a ton of participants, and a whole lot of vendors.

Our hard-working Coastal Zone Management Crews are in the process of picking up our lifeguard towards for the season. So, if you go out to the beach to enjoy some of this amazing October Galveston weather, please remember we are spread incredibly thin this time of year. Stay away from any structures like rock jetties to avoid rip currents and swim well within your limits. And if you see anything that looks questionable out there feel free to call our direct number 409-763-4769 so we can go check it out. And, as always, call 911 for any water related or other type of emergency.

Fall Coverage

/in , , , , , /by

October is my favorite month on the beach. As usual, we’ve been experiencing some amazing beach weather. A number of people have been out enjoying Galveston’s 33 miles of beach on the weekdays in small groups or solo and weekends will still be crowded for a couple of months. Our staff has remained focused, moving swimmers away from the deep holes and rip currents by the jetties and making the occasional rescue.

There are clearly more beach patrons using the “shoulder season” on the beach now-a-days and it’s likely due to a combination of warming trends, the growing population around Houston, and Visit Galveston and local businesses’ work to promote tourism. It seems our beach season now stretches from the end of February all the way to December. It’s not at all unusual to have a nice sunny weekend in November with many swimmers in the water.

This is the last weekend for our seasonal lifeguards. As “seasonal workers,” we are only permitted to employ them for 7 months. After this Sunday we’ll be covering all 33 miles of beach with two or three vehicles each day.

Beach Patrol’s target number of lifeguards is around 145 and 12 of the guards are full-time, year-round employees. This means that when fully staffed during the summer months on a normal weekend we are able staff 32 lifeguard towers, 7 trucks, 3 UTV’s, and a boat in the water. Even with that, we sometimes struggle to stay on top of the volume of calls and need every bit of help we get from our partners with Park Security, Police, Fire, EMS, park staff, and others.

Starting Oct. 11 until March, we’ll be operating using just our year-round staff, with some help from our volunteer “Wave Watchers”. These same staff members will rotate to cover “call”, meaning that someone will be available for emergencies, day or night, all winter.

If you observe one of our tower lifeguards for a summer day on the Seawall, you’ll see them repeatedly moving swimmers away from rip currents by the rocks. These preventative actions keep swimmers out of danger and keep our guards from having to make rescues that are extremely risky to victim and rescuer alike. When combining tower and truck work, we make between 300-500,000 preventative actions annually.

Working in a mobile vehicle is another story. We do the best we can to get to swimmers before they get in trouble, but we’re spread thin and covering a lot of ground, so its less proactive and we end up making many more challenging rescues.

At some point down the road, we’ll need to address increasing our capabilities as the shoulder season grows, but for now, we’ve got it. As the “season” closes, we’re looking forward to spending more quality time with residents, catching up on maintenance, training, and doing administrative work, especially once things cool down in December. I think our lifeguards and all islanders need that down time to recharge for next season! Thanks to everyone for their continued support.

Ike Anniversary

/in , , , /by

We heard a lot about Hurricane Harvey, but September 13, the anniversary of Hurricane Ike, came and went without much fanfare.

I still remember how the water felt as I slogged down 16th street heading into the biting wind. How the grit had gotten in my water shoes and how saturated my skin felt after several hours in and out of the water. The fear in my stomach as a transformer blew close by. Wondering if the electricity could travel through the water to me. Trying to breathe and see through the thick smoke coming off of the huge fire burning at the Yacht Basin.

It seems like yesterday I felt the tiny boy’s hand in mine, as I held on to him and his sister while walking chest deep in the grimy soup next to their mom and pulling a rescue board piled with another sibling and a few belongings that they begged to bring along. Bringing them to high ground at Broadway and piling them into a waiting police car that would take them to the emergency shelter at Ball High school. Taking a moment to watch them drive off and grab an energy bar before heading to the next group a few blocks away.

Those of us that went through Hurricane Ike have memories like this etched into us that probably will never leave. Unfortunately, as time slips by, that institutional memory fades. But it’s encouraging how much better prepared each group is now as a result of lessons learned.  Charlie Kelly, who is no longer with us, was the Director of the Emergency Operations for Galveston for many years. He once mentioned his fear that all the event memory would be lost as people who went through the storm moved on. Fortunately, proactive planning if done correctly, can put systems in that compensate for lack of personal experience. And it’s good to have a system that doesn’t depend on individual personalities or experience. After 9-11 the National Incident Management System was integrated throughout the nation’s emergency services. And locally, each group’s emergency action plan is much more comprehensive than what we had before. We annually revise the Park Board’s Emergency Action Plan, and I intentionally try to think of how it could be improved so that it doesn’t rely on any one person’s experience.

We still have a ways to go until we get through storm season, so don’t get complacent. In lifeguard training we talk a lot about eliminating variables that can mess you up during a rescue. We practice them to the point where your body remembers even if your brain doesn’t. If you practice and internalize all the things you can control in advance, you are better able to handle the inevitable wrinkles that arise. This applies to systems as well as individuals. It works for hurricanes and manmade disasters.  It works for officials and emergency response teams.

And it works for you and your family as well.

Non Compliance Strategies

/in , , , , , /by

“Good Morning. Sir, do you mind removing your vehicle from the beachfront and parking it in the parking lot?”

“Why?”

“Cars aren’t allowed on the beachfront in this area for safety reasons.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“There’s a sign at the entrance you drove through that says no vehicles allowed past this point. There is also a law that says vehicles aren’t allowed to drive on this part of the beach.”

“Well, I’m not driving on the beach, I’m just dropping my stuff off.”

Late in the summer it seems that people just get frayed. There are more complaints, arguments, fights, and weird things happening than earlier in the season. It’s like the veneer of civility gets burned away by the heat and sun, and all the raw emotions people usually have tamped down come boiling to the surface. And it seems like this year all the stress of covid, economy, politics, etc. exacerbated it.

For those who work the beach it can be a challenge, but if you get in the right head space it can be wildly entertaining. I especially like it when people seem to feel that they have their own little bubble of rules that differ from everyone else. The moon follows me as well, so totally get it.

“Excuse me sir, do you mind putting your dog on a leash?”

“Why?”

“Galveston has a city ordinance requiring dogs to wear leashes. Also, there have been instances where dogs have been off a leash and…..” (you get the idea)

Then the conversation goes into a whole list of reasons for not needing to use a leash that all generally have the same theme- in my case there should be an exemption from the rules. Some of the best ones are:

“He’s really friendly”, “She just likes chasing birds and hardly ever bites anyone”, “I have him for comfort”, or (my personal all-time favorite), “My dog is on a verbal leash”.

The other common technique that can be interesting is the “stall technique”. We open with something along the lines of, “Hey, I’m sorry but you can’t use a tent or tarp in this area. You can, however, use it on the other side of those blue poles” And from there it goes a little something like this:

“What?”

“Can you please move your tarp to the other side of those blue poles?”

“I have to move my tarp?”

“Yes”

“Where?”

“To the other side of the blue poles on the side that is designated by signs”

“So…. I can’t have my tarp here?”

It may cycle a few times like that. Then they realize that even if they keep asking the response is the same. At that point they might move it. Or, if you’re lucky, they might go into the previous technique and point out that they need shade in that area more than other people because…

I will say I’m so impressed with my staff, CERT, park staff, and other first responder groups for all their patience, and understanding that 99% of people are really nice to deal with.