In a sad reminder that more lifeguards are needed at Hawaii’s beaches, a female visitor died Feb. 16 at Sharks Cove, an unguarded beach on Oahu’s North Shore. Three out of the four drownings that have occurred on the island thus far this year have happened at beaches without lifeguard stations, according to the city Emergency Services Department, which oversees the Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division.

2018 also has seen a spike of ocean fatalities on Maui.

What we don’t hear about so much are the drownings that lifeguards prevent. On Feb. 12, George Waddingham, an Ocean Safety rescue watercraft operator who patrols and responds to emergency calls on the North Shore, was involved in back-to-back rescues in 6- to 8-foot waves in the Pipeline area offshore from the lifeguard tower at Ehukai Beach Park.

First, a photographer got caught inside on the shallow reef while swimming, said Waddingham, 33.

Brought ashore, “he collapsed in our arms, unable to communicate,” Waddingham said. “So we took spinal precautions, put him on a backboard and on oxygen.”

Next, a surfer walked up.

“He had a big laceration on the bottom of his chin (and) as the tower lifeguard was treating him for basic first aid, he couldn’t answer simple questions like his age or how he got in.”

The lifeguards immobilized him on a backboard.

“There’s not always immediate lack of function,” Waddingham said. “You could have fractured or compressed vertebrae, and later you could slip and fall, and it could break.”

Hawaii’s lifeguards are analysts and diagnosticians of people as well as the shore and sea, where conditions can change drastically from hour to hour.

Although the Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division has been growing steadily at 6 percent a year for five years, its personnel and resources are still stretched thin, said Jim Howe, director of the Emergency Services Department and a former lifeguard.

Lifeguards, Howe explained, are responsible for every one of the 178 beaches on Oahu and the waters as far as a mile out. There are towers at only 42 locations, supplemented by 16 mobile units with rescue craft.

Lifeguards are different from other first responders, Howe said. “It’s not like firefighters in a fire station. Our folks are out on the beach, in the water and on the road, monitoring.”

And unlike police and paramedics, lifeguards have a duty to warn.

Ocean Safety lifeguard Garvin Freitas, 47, and his two partners in Tower 2A, fronting the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, not only survey oceangoers from the beach but also paddle out on their rescue board to assess swimmers in the crowded waters.

“On a busier day, we can paddle out eight to 10 times,” Freitas said. “A big push in our department has been to educate.”

He approaches weak swimmers and tells them about hazards such as the deep drop-off into current-ridden waters that lies beyond the shifting sandbar offshore at Waikiki.

“Right in front of my tower is a big, deep hole,” Freitas said. “I inform them they may be getting into or are in a dangerous area, and ask if they want assistance.”

If they say no, “I always circle back and ask again.”

Because of their unique duty and workplace — the ever-changing ocean environment — Hawaii’s lifeguards were provided with limited liability from lawsuits for 17 years until the law expired in June. Bills seeking to restore this immunity were introduced in the state Legislature this session but have not had hearings scheduled.

Lifeguards’ jobs are stressful enough without having to worry about being sued.

Howe had some good news, however.

“As of (Feb. 16), 911 calls that are ocean-based automatically go to Ocean Safety dispatch. They used to go to the Fire Department first. It reduces our response time.”

Now he’s looking to hire more lifeguards and extend their workdays from eight to 10 hours. That means that if the City Council passes his budget, the margin of safety for visitors and residents alike will grow.

“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.