SAN DIEGO (KGTV) \u2014 San Diego lifeguards responded to 464 water rescues over the weekend as heat drew large crowds to the beach amid dangerous surf conditions.<\/p>\n
Officials say that number is nearly double the 336 rescues recorded from July 14 through July 21, and warn the hazards are far from over.<\/p>\n
“That number is definitely above average for us, and it’s a strong indication that our lifeguards are out there and doing good work,” Lt. Charlie Knight of San Diego Fire-Rescue Marina Safety said.<\/p>\n
Large surf and strong rip currents are driving the dangerous conditions. A beach hazard safety statement remains in effect through Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Candace Hadley, public information officer for San Diego Fire-Rescue and Lifeguards, said the summer season has already seen elevated rescue numbers.<\/p>\n
“It’s well north of 3,000 rescues since June for the summer, and while we see a lot of that activity every single year, this one is a little bit elevated,” Hadley said.<\/p>\n
Officials say the dangers extend beyond the water. Over the weekend, a 17-year-old was seriously injured after attempting to jump from Sunset Cliffs, hitting the cliffside before falling into the water. Hadley said jumping from any height above 5 feet into the ocean is illegal.<\/p>\n
“Be really mindful of those signs, if it says do not pass, do not, there is an unsafe area, and it is actually illegal to jump off of any height above 5 ft. here into the ocean,” Hadley said.<\/p>\n
Lifeguards are urging beachgoers to take extra precautions while the beach hazard safety statement is in effect.<\/p>\n
“When you’re coming down to the beach here, especially with this beach hazard safety statement that’s in effect until Wednesday, to just take extra precautions,” Hadley said.<\/p>\n
Lifeguards say the safest option is to stay out of the water if conditions look rough, and to follow instructions if told to stay clear of certain areas.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO (KGTV) \u2014 San Diego lifeguards responded to 464 water rescues over the weekend as heat drew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[165927,165928,133101,74,76,165926,75,50419],"class_list":["post-414789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-dangerous-surf-conditions","tag-high-surf-conditions","tag-rip-currents","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-lifeguards","tag-san-diego-news","tag-water-rescues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}