Lifeguard Shortage Imperils County Pools

A shortage of lifeguards is threatening to bring cutbacks in swimming hours and spot closings of pools at some Los Angeles County parks, especially South Los Angeles facilities, officials said.

The south region of the county--home to 15 of 30 county-run pools--is at least 50 lifeguards below its 250-guard hiring goal for the summer, said Tom Slaughter, south area pool supervisor.

“We’re short, probably about 50, 60 lifeguards right now,” Slaughter said, “which means if two lifeguards got sick and didn’t show up, we would be in danger of not opening up that facility for that day.”

Some county pools could be forced to cut hours or to limit the number of swimmers at peak times because of the dwindling employment pool, officials said.

Many of the affected pools are concentrated in South-Central Los Angeles and Compton, including Ted Watkins, Jesse Owens and Athens parks.

Henry Roman, senior assistant director for the county Parks and Recreation Department, said that no pools have been closed and that it is premature to speculate what might happen when the weather gets hotter and crowds swell.

He said safety is the No. 1 priority. “We’re tight, [but] I wouldn’t say we’re short,” Roman said.

No such squeeze is being felt at county beaches and at 55 Los Angeles city pools, officials said.

John Vowels, who is in charge of the city’s aquatics division, said the city has avoided the problem by aggressively recruiting youngsters and getting them involved at an early age.

“You’ve got to constantly be generating interest,” Vowels said. “It’s totally a marketing issue.”

It’s also a money issue. Los Angeles city lifeguards earn $11.07 an hour; county lifeguards earn $9.14.

Also, fewer students are considering summer lifeguard jobs in the first place, choosing instead to spend their vacations working at internships and other better-paid jobs.

Slaughter speculated that the lack of guards can be traced in part to a fee system implemented by the county in 1994. For five years, county pools charged entrance fees of $1 for children and $2 for adults, and the number of swimmers plummeted. Though the fees were eliminated last year, Slaughter said those teenagers who are now 17 and old enough to be lifeguards did not become swimmers in the first place.

“Last year we were beginning to see the effect of it,” he said. “This year it has reached a crisis level.”

“We probably will lose some kids in August, back to college, and that’s when the crunch is going to hit us really hard,” Slaughter said.

Roman, of the Parks and Recreation Department, said the county is looking at the possibility of raising salaries.

“There’s no assurance that’s a total solution to our problem, but that’s a start,” Roman said.