"It's just really important to keep calm," Thompson said, advising those caught in rip currents to float, signal for help, and hold onto a flotation device if possible.
In California, a teenage lifeguard named Ryder Williams rescued a young boy from strong waves at Seabright State Beach.
The rescue was captured on video, showing Williams repeatedly surfacing with the boy amid turbulent surf.
Tom Gill, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, praised Williams' calm and effective response, emphasizing the human effort involved rather than reliance on equipment.
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"He does such a good job maintaining contact with the victim and understanding the situation and what he has to do to maintain safety," Gill said.
Williams' rescue reinvigorated efforts to recognize California's open water lifeguards as official first responders.
Marea Zlatun of the Santa Cruz State Lifeguards Association called the recognition "a no-brainer," highlighting the daily life-saving work lifeguards perform.
"These rescues that we're performing every day, it's not an anomaly. It's our job.
And we don't look at ourselves as being heroes for doing our job.
We are just doing our job, which is first responders responding first on scene," Zlatun said.
State Sen.
John Laird acknowledged the advocacy and called for a study to assess the feasibility and costs of official designation, with plans to revisit the proposal next year.
Laird said, "I think the best situation would be to adopt a bill that does the study that says, how would this work?
How much would this cost? When would you trigger it?
And then you could take the study and turn it into a bill to actually enact it, and you would know what the answers to many of these questions are."
Beachgoers at Seabright supported the idea, recognizing lifeguards as the first line of defense in ocean emergencies.
One beachgoer said, "They put their life on the line to save ours, so. And they're the first ones to respond when something happens in the ocean.
So, yeah, by definition, I think they are first responders."
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The father of the rescued boy expressed profound gratitude toward the lifeguards for their bravery and swift action.
