8 swimmers rescued after lifeguards leave for day in Long Beach, New York
While Friday's warm weather brough families out to Long Beach to catch some rays and take a dip in the water off Long Island, it was a different story earlier in the week when riptides and poor water conditions kept crews busy.
About 15 minutes after their last rescue Thursday at Monroe Beach, lifeguards who were scheduled to train after hours decided to stay there to practice. Then, they spotted two victims on the Long Beach Road jetty getting sucked out by riptides.
One woman was easily pulled back in, but the water was so strong it took two tries to get her boyfriend to safety.
"He was out of it. He was done. He was done and taking his last breath when my rescue swimmers got off the jet ski and grabbed him up. I mean 100%, I'm confident that he would have been gone had we not been there," Jake Jacobi, a former fire chief and water rescue coordinator, said.
More victims were spotted while that man was being taken to safety.
"I notified them to take them to the east side of the beach roads, a little calmer, and luckily on the way in, they saw three other victims on the Monroe jetty that were clinging to the jetty and out at the end of the jetty," Jacobi said.
In total, fire officials said eight people had to be saved within two hours of lifeguards leaving their posts for the day, thanks to the emergency response crew that remains close by until 8 p.m.
"Police actually went in the water as well and they were able to bring the victim in," Chief Rich Borawski, with the Long Beach Lifeguard Patrol, said.
The hectic situation was caused by a mixture of riptides, a sandbar and poor water conditions.
"We had both jet skis operating within the reach of each other and all of our membership right in the same area, which is a little hectic at times because you have a lot of different things happening and you're trying to keep up," Chief John Marino, of the Long Beach Fire Department, said.
The fire chief said every victim pulled from the water was stable and expected to be OK.
He said a large number of rescues after lifeguard hours is not unheard of, but it does not happen often.
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