Long Beach lifeguards on duty amid heat wave

Just days before the city’s beaches officially open for the summer, city lifeguards are on duty Thursday and Friday in anticipation of large crowds flocking to Long Beach amid a heat wave that blanketed the New York region.

Although beaches will be not be officially open seven-days-a-week until Saturday — there is no charge to go on the beach until then —

with 90-degree temperatures and rough tides, lifeguards are on duty today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Council President Fran Adelson announced that because city beaches were expected to attract large crowds this week because of the excessive heat, the city decided to put lifeguards on duty a few days early in the interest of safety.

Chief of Lifeguards Paul Gillespie said that City Manager Jack Schnirman met with all department heads earlier this week to discuss the issue.

“The city manager made a great call ... he did it for safety reasons and you have to give him a tremendous amount of credit for that,” said Gillespie.

Off-duty lifeguards have already rescued a number of distressed swimmers who have been caught in strong rip currents over the past few weeks. Gillespie said that beaches were also crowded on Wednesday, when off-duty lifeguards, police and other emergency responders made four water rescues and treated one beachgoer for heat exhaustion.

“We have pulled people out periodically, but the people have actually been pretty good about not swimming when lifeguards are not on duty,” he said.