Los Angeles County Lifeguards
| Watch the water, stay in shape, do the right thing | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1914 |
| Employees | 782 lifeguards |
| Staffing | Combination (Recurrent & Career) |
| EMS level | ALS & BLS |
| Facilities and equipment | |
| Stations | 4 Section Headquarters, 15 Substations, 158 Towers |
| Rescues | 10,000+ |
| Rescue boats | 10 |
| Website | |
| fire |
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Los Angeles County Lifeguards is a division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The lifeguard operations safeguard 31 miles (50 km) of beach and 72 miles (116 km) of coastline, from San Pedro in the south, to Malibu in the north. The Los Angeles County Lifeguard Service served as the model for the hit television series Baywatch which was created by part-time lifeguard Gregory J. Bonann.
Lifeguards also provide paramedic and rescue boat services to Catalina Island, with operations out of Avalon and the Isthmus. Other daily rescue boat services operate out of Los Angeles Harbor (Baywatch Cabrillo), King Harbor (Baywatch Redondo), Marina Del Rey (Baywatch Del Rey and Baywatch Santa Monica) and Malibu Pier (Baywatch Malibu).
The Los Angeles County Lifeguard service is the largest professional lifeguard service in the world. Entering the year 2005, the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Service employs 132 year-round lifeguards (chiefs, captains and ocean lifeguard specialists) and over 650 seasonal lifeguards (recurrents). Operating out of four Sectional Headquarters, located in Hermosa, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey and Zuma beach. Each of these headquarters staffs a 24-hour EMT-D response unit, and are part of the 911 system.
In addition to providing for beach safety and emergency medical services, LA County Lifeguards have specialized training for Baywatch rescue boat operations, underwater rescue and recovery, swift water rescue, cliff rescue, marine mammal rescue and marine firefighting.
Prior to July 1, 1994, Los Angeles County Lifeguards were part of the Department of Beaches and Harbors
The following categories of lifeguard clothing in sufficient quantities to fully annually outfit 760 male lifeguards and 136 female lifeguards, which numbers can change each agreement year based upon the workforce composition then in employment, as order by county:
Most lifeguards are wearing a departmental badge shall consist of a shield, surmonted a bear, and shall be of silver-colored metal unless otherwise specified. The words "County of Los Angeles" shall appear on a ribbon at the atop of the badge just under the bear, followed by ribbons with the words "Fire Department" will appear just above the seal of the county. Then the title of the position of the person authorized to wear such official badge shall be inscribe on a ribbon placed just below the county's seal and the serial number of the badge shall appeared at the bottom of the badge below the title of the position. The words "Ocean Lifeguard Specialist", "Ocean Lifeguard", "Captain" and "Chief" may also appear on the face of badges issued to employees or retired employees authorized by the Fire Department and board of supervisors to carry such badges.
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