Oahu Lifeguards Say They Need Help. But City Officials Are Stonewalling …. A resolution that would let voters help chart the future course for the city Ocean Safety division has stalled in City Council chambers.
When high winds battered Oahu’s south shore for two days in early May, Honolulu’s legendary watermen set out to sea, rescuing almost 500 surfers and swimmers who were caught unprepared by the towering waves.
Now the 272 lifeguards, who monitor some 227 miles of Oahu’s often-treacherous coastline, are turning to the public for some assistance in return.
The lifeguards and their supporters want to make the city’s Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services division, now part of the city’s Emergency Services department, an autonomous department within the city government. They hope that having their own department would make it easier for them to lobby for the resources they say they need to protect the public.
