SEATTLE — If you are heading to the water this holiday weekend be alert!
Not all beaches in King County will be staffed with lifeguards. Across the nation and here in Western Washington there’s a lifeguard shortage.
The city of Seattle says the lifeguard shortage is a direct result of the pandemic and says it’s going to take a couple of years to recover.
“This morning I’m getting up really early for a lap swim,” said Alison Grevstad.
Swimmers and people who love the water like Grevstad say they’ve definitely felt the impacts.
“This pool gets really crowded in the summer, to be able to go up to Queen Anne sometimes, and because that one is closed this summer because they can’t staff both at the same time…And this pool opened I think a month, or a month and a half later than it normally does,” said Grevstad.
Three beaches and two pools in Seattle are closed this summer as a direct result of the shortage.
Here are the beaches and pools that will be closed:
- Magnuson Park Beach
- Seward Park Beach
- East Green Lake Beach
- Evans Pool
- Queen Anne Pool
Seattle Parks and Recreation says they are down 80 lifeguards. They blame the pandemic for putting a pause on training and say it will take some time to fill all those positions.
“We weren’t running the swim team. We weren’t training and certifying new lifeguards during that time, and so we had to start that whole thing up again, and really we’re not going to see kind of the results of all of that recruiting and training for a couple of years,” said Rachel Schulkin, Communications manager for Seattle Parks & Rec.
The city increased the pay for lifeguards to $21.05 an hour, and if you have experience you could get paid even more.
Right now they are even covering the costs of training and certifications.
King County believes the lack of lifeguards is the reason they are seeing an increase in drownings.
“We’ve seen elevated numbers the last four years, averaging about 40 drowning deaths in King County, and we were actually much less than that in prior four years. There was a three-year run when we had no child drown,” said Tony Gomez, PHSKC Violence and Injury Prevention Program Manager.
If you need a lifejacket look for a lifejacket loaner station. There are 180 stations across the state near marinas, boat ramps, launch sites, and at several state parks.
King County has compiled a list of lifeguarded beaches this summer. You can find it here.
©2023 Cox Media Group
