Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ocean Beach Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors hold multi‑agency hearing on Ocean Beach safety after April drownings
Summary
After two teens drowned April 16, a May 12 Board committee convened federal, state and city agencies to review rescue capacity, dispatch protocols, signage and prevention at Ocean Beach and to solicit community suggestions including expanded outreach, stairwell signage and volunteer ambassadors.
Chair Supervisor Jane Kim convened a May 12 Public Safety Committee hearing after two teenagers were swept from Ocean Beach on April 16, asking city and federal partners to outline prevention and response improvements.
Supervisor Eric Mar, the hearing sponsor, said the loss of two young visitors reinforced that Ocean Beach’s waters are “treacherous and potentially deadly” for anyone but experienced, trained and equipped ocean users. He asked agencies to consider immediate steps to reduce risk ahead of summer and heat‑driven beach crowds.
The National Park Service’s Howard Levitt and deputy ranger Chad Marin described the agency’s beach patrol: Ocean Beach is not a designated swimming beach, patrols must rove a long coastline, and the NPS emphasizes keeping people out of the water through signage and outreach. Marin highlighted last summer’s training statistics and said the beach patrol made 52 aquatic rescues and roughly 21,000 safety advisory contacts during peak season.
San Francisco Department of Emergency Management government‑affairs manager Kristen Hogan explained 911 handling for Ocean Beach calls: dispatchers verify caller location, use prepopulated Ocean Beach information in the CAD screen (including numbered stairwells) and keep callers on the line while resources are en route. Hogan said the prepopulated data speeds notifications to park police, fire and other partners.
San Francisco Fire Department PIO Jonathan (John) Baxter and Deputy Chief Mark Gonzalez said surf rescue is resource‑intensive. The fire department reported staffing coastal rescue units and rescue swimmers, described the incident command structure for ocean rescues and reiterated the importance of accurate stairwell numbers and precise witness descriptions to shorten response time.
SFPD Marine Unit sergeant Daniel Laval described police marine assets and how his unit supports, but generally does not place swimmers in surf rescues; the unit emphasized inter‑agency radio interoperability and support roles for recovery and search in county waters. The U.S. Coast Guard’s operational commander Greg Stump said aviation is the service’s primary asset, with typical helicopter response times to Ocean Beach in the 35–60 minute range depending on aircraft and location.
Agency presenters and supervisors debated short‑ and longer‑term steps. Ideas the committee and witnesses discussed included: enlarging and reorienting stairwell numbers so callers and beachgoers can quickly identify locations; more conspicuous multilingual signage at stairwells and portable billboard signs during heat waves; bolstering social media and pre‑arrival messaging; and building a coordinated volunteer or ambassador program using experienced local surfers and community partners.
Public comment reflected both support for enhanced prevention and concern about expanded policing. Max Ernst, chair of the San Francisco Surfrider Foundation, urged a “see something, say something” approach from surfers and beachgoers. Community activist Jordan Gwendolyn Davis praised education and lifeguards but warned against bringing more law enforcement to the beach, saying increased policing can produce racial, gender and disability‑based harms for homeless and marginalized visitors.
The committee did not adopt a final policy at the hearing; it voted to continue the matter to the call of the chair and asked staff to convene a follow‑up meeting of agency and community partners with recommendations before the next warm season.
