Three teens rescued from rough ocean

Three girls were in the water, between National and Magnolia boulevards, a stone's throw from lifeguard headquarters, at about 11 a.m. last Friday when several lifeguards who were working on the beach rescued them.

"We were putting in the road posts in the middle of the beach, and if we weren't there, there would have been three drownings," said Paul Gillespie, chief of Long Beach lifeguards. "We got a call, we jumped in the trucks and drove down to Magnolia Boulevard and three girls got sucked out."

Because the ocean was particularly rough that morning, the rescue required 10 lifeguards. The girls, who all live in Hempstead, were taken to Long Beach Medical Center with water in their lungs, where they were treated and released.

"They were lucky they decided to drown right by lifeguard headquarters when the road crew was there," said Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins. "These girls would be dead if it weren't for the lifeguards."

The rescue came four days after two boys, ages 14 and 15, were rescued on Memorial Day at about 6:15 p.m., when lifeguards were off duty, and nine days after Emanuel Tiburcio, a 19-year-old Brooklyn man, drowned off Edwards Boulevard, before lifeguards began working on the beach.

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.