June 20, 2024 • 17 mins
In this episode, host David Kotz interviews Bridget Tierney, the aquatics director at the beautiful Deer Lake Club in Boonton, New Jersey. Join us as we dive into the unique challenges and rewarding experiences of lifeguarding in a lake environment.
Episode Highlights:
- Introduction to Deer Lake Club: Learn about the stunning aquatic facility managed by Bridget, including its two acres of water, sailboats, rowboats, and more.
- Lifeguarding Differences: Discover the key differences between lifeguarding at a lake versus a traditional pool, including the use of jet skis, motorboats, and rescue boards.
- Wildlife Encounters: Hear about the various animals that share the lake with swimmers, from fish and turtles to the occasional water snake and even bears!
- Lifeguard Training: Understand the additional training requirements for lifeguards at a waterfront, including deep water line searches and the use of masks and fins.
- Emergency Action Plans: Bridget explains the comprehensive emergency action plans in place for missing persons and other potential incidents.
- Water Quality and Temperature: Learn about the challenges of maintaining water quality and dealing with varying water temperatures in a natural lake setting.
Bridget also shares her experiences as a lifeguard instructor and manager, providing valuable insights into the skills and knowledge required to keep a facility like Deer Lake Club safe and enjoyable for everyone.
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Contact David Kotz
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- Phone: 908-502-0600
About The Lifesaving Chronicles:
Hey there, lifesaving educators! I'm David Kotz, your host and the founder of the National Safety Training Center. Join me as we embark on a bi-monthly journey, each session packed with approximately 30 minutes of rich content tailored for American Red Cross and American Heart Association educators like you—CPR/First Aid instructors, Lifeguard instructors, EMT instructors, and any current or aspiring lifesaving educating entrepreneurs who are passionate about saving lives. We'
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Thank you.
Dave Kotz (00:05):
Okay, welcome to The LifeSaving Chronicles.
I'm David Kotz, your host.
I'm here with Bridget.
Bridget is the manager of thisbeautiful aquatic facility.
Bridget, tell us all aboutyourself and your facility here.
Bridget Tierney (00:17):
Hello, my name is Bridget and I'm the aquatics
director here at the lovely DeerLake Club.
And we have this lovely,beautiful property to manage.
Dave Kotz (00:26):
How many square meters is it?
Yards?
Bridget Tierney (00:31):
We're probably looking at about two acres of
water almost.
Dave Kotz (00:39):
Two acres?
Bridget Tierney (00:39):
If we take a little bit.
Dave Kotz (00:41):
But clearly in addition to the swimming area,
which we just saw, over to ourright we have some sailboats.
They look very pretty.
We've got rowboats, so forth andso on.
So what's different, Bridget,about lifeguarding at a lake
environment or a beachenvironment than your
traditional pool environment?
Bridget Tierney (01:00):
There's a lot of differences; a few
similarities.
One of the biggest differencesis we do have to watch the
boating area as well as yourregular waterfront swimming.
So we do have some jet skis anda motorboat to help us get to
people that are far in the backas quickly as possible.
If you see, there's a skid onthe back so we can have people
(01:24):
go on the skid, get a nice upclose view to be able to perform
rescues.
Dave Kotz (01:31):
So the operator of the jet ski obviously sits here.
Sometimes you have a secondrescuer sitting on the back
right around here and then wecan put the victim, pardon me,
right across- it's the drowningperson.
New technology, new terminology,drowning person.
They go on that skid, whichhelps get them out of the water.
Bridget Tierney (01:50):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (01:51):
Very cool.
All right.
So some different equipment.
What else is different?
Bridget Tierney (01:56):
You can't see the bottom.
It's really not visible.
Dave Kotz (02:01):
That's about eight inches of water, maybe 10.
And we're just seeing the bottomthere.
So it's dark.
It's a little mucky there.
Bridget Tierney (02:07):
Dark and mucky up.
And as soon as you start movingaround down there, you start
kicking it all up, which makesvisibility even more difficult.
Dave Kotz (02:16):
Okay.
So that's definitely a challengefor lifeguards.
What about animals?
Bridget Tierney (02:22):
Oh, yes.
What animals would you like toknow about?
We have fish here and turtles.
Dave Kotz (02:28):
There are fish?
Bridget Tierney (02:29):
There are fish.
Dave Kotz (02:30):
In the lake?
Bridget Tierney (02:31):
Yes, in the lake, yes.
Dave Kotz (02:32):
Swimming with the people?
Bridget Tierney (02:33):
Swimming with the people, yes.
Dave Kotz (02:35):
Is that a problem at all or do they seem to co exist?
Bridget Tierney (02:38):
No, they co exist.
Okay.
They're pretty much scared ofthe, giant child splashing.
Dave Kotz (02:43):
So the fish aren't a problem.
How about other animals in thewater?
Bridget Tierney (02:49):
For the most part, most of them tend to stay
away.
You get your occasional watersnake that decides to relocate
to a sunnier spot, but weusually splash them away and
they tend to disappear quitequickly.
Dave Kotz (03:00):
Yeah, I'm not sure I'm fond of the water snake
thing.
Bridget Tierney (03:03):
No.
It's an acquired taste.
Dave Kotz (03:05):
Okay, so we got some snakes.
Turtles.
Bridget Tierney (03:08):
Turtles.
We have turtles.
Yep.
Okay.
They make their occasionalappearance here and there, but
they tend to keep to themselves.
Dave Kotz (03:16):
Okay, so Fish, turtles, snakes.
Anything else?
Bridget Tierney (03:24):
Are we talking inside or outside of the water?
Dave Kotz (03:26):
Oh yeah, go for it.
What do you got?
Bridget Tierney (03:28):
Oh, we've got deer, bear, fox, coyotes.
Dave Kotz (03:31):
Did you say bear?
Bridget Tierney (03:34):
Yes, we do.
Dave Kotz (03:37):
At the Deer Lake Club, I was expecting the deer.
That's making sense.
Bridget Tierney (03:40):
Yes.
No, we do.
We have bears.
Dave Kotz (03:41):
How do you deal With bears and people interacting.
That seems like a challenge.
Bridget Tierney (03:46):
It is a challenge.
It is.
So we, always make sure staff isalerted and we usually try to
just have staff handle it, deep,loud voices, make sure they try
to stay away from people andthat they are making their way
towards people.
We notify them that some bear iscoming.
Dave Kotz (04:00):
So have there been any unfortunate incidences or
have you guys coexisted fairly?
Bridget Tierney (04:04):
We've coexisted fairly well.
Some close encounters, butnothing like dangerous.
Dave Kotz (04:11):
Cool.
So at a facility like this, howmany lifeguards do you have on
duty at one time?
Bridget Tierney (04:17):
So typically when we're at our peak hours, we
usually have about eightlifeguards working.
Dave Kotz (04:23):
All right.
So obviously we see a couple oflifeguards stands on the beach.
We have two stands on the beachthat we see that, obviously,
someone would sit in.
I see two stands on the dock,one on the shore side dock, one
on the far side dock.
What else- where else do youposition your lifeguards?
Bridget Tierney (04:39):
So we usually position a lifeguard near the
slide.
And then we have anotherlifeguard that sort of roves
around in the deep end to coverdeep water tests or just to make
sure they can cover any areaswhere it's a little more
populated.
We also have a lifeguardcovering the boats, They also
monitor to make sure thateveryone in the boating area is
also safe.
Dave Kotz (04:58):
Excellent.
Now, your lifeguards have aslightly different training
requirement than poollifeguards.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the additional training
that's required?
Bridget Tierney (05:08):
So they are required to be able to swim a
little bit longer because it isopen water, so they do have to
swim a longer distance.
They are also required to beable to use a mask and fins.
And with mask and fins, it comeswith several skills that they
need to be able to do.
One of them being a deep waterline search for if- God forbid
there was a missing person andthey would all sort of line up,
(05:28):
dive to the bottom, do threesweeps, and come back up, and
then they would continue untileither the person is found,
hopefully on land, or dead inthe water.
Dave Kotz (05:38):
So there's two different search techniques that
you're just talking about,right?
So one's a line search wherewe're all walking.
Bridget Tierney (05:43):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (05:44):
And the other is the mask and fin kind of search
where we're diving down to thebottom and checking out the
bottom.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else that's like really
unique about this particularfacility.
Bridget Tierney (05:55):
We use a rescue board which similar to a
surfboard style but when we aredoing any of our- twice a year
we do a long distance swim and amiddle distance swim out in the
middle of the lake and we usethe rescue board to go out there
because it's a little faster.
It's a little easier to maneuverand in open water, it's exactly
(06:16):
like using a rescue tube, butinstead of you having to swim
the person back, you can paddleyourself back on a board.
Dave Kotz (06:23):
And so for distressed swimmers, how many people can
you support on one rescue board?
Bridget Tierney (06:28):
You can support at least two to three people on
a rescue board, depending onsizes.
Dave Kotz (06:33):
Okay.
Very cool.
So not only can you make rescuesfaster, but you can rescue more
people with a rescue board.
Very cool stuff.
We've got one at Round ValleyReservoir.
It was pretty cool.
Were you there for Round Valley?
So there's a great one at RoundValley.
We'll check that out.
All right.
We're back here with Bridget atthe Deer Lake Club in Boonton,
New Jersey.
(06:53):
It is a gorgeous day.
Friday before Memorial Day.
I've noticed that they've madesome serious effort to making
sure everything looks good.
I saw Bridget's mother plantingflowers, making sure this place
is looking just beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Bridget Tierney (07:09):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (07:11):
I know we're out here on the dock now and you can see
we've got a backboard here.
We're ready to go.
So the equipment's here.
What about in service training?
Is that different here at thelake than it is at the pool?
Bridget Tierney (07:23):
It is different here.
So we do training at least oncea week for the entire summer and
we make sure that they doconditioning so that they are
physically fit and ready to dothe job for the week and they
swim at least 22 laps once aweek along with practicing other
skills so that they stay sharpon their skills.
Plus with these high edges here,it's really important to
(07:44):
practice being able to getsomebody in and out of the water
safely.
Dave Kotz (07:48):
That's at least 18 inches.
Bridget Tierney (07:50):
It is.
Dave Kotz (07:50):
So it's not, it's like some of the pools that we
work at, it's flush.
Bridget Tierney (07:55):
Right.
Slide them right on and here youhave to do a little more heavy
lifting to get them upsometimes.
Dave Kotz (08:00):
Gotcha.
Bridget Tierney (08:00):
Yeah.
Dave Kotz (08:01):
So your emergency action plan or EAP is a little
more involved here than it is atthe pool.
Bridget Tierney (08:06):
It is.
So we practice finding whichwould be the quickest exit point
based on where they are.
So sometimes we do a little stopmotion rescues where we do a
rescue, I have them pause andsay which exit point would be
closer so that they can learnwhere they are.
They can make faster decisions.
Dave Kotz (08:24):
That sounds very smart.
That's nice.
So the other thing we weretalking about as we were
preparing is there's anadditional requirement imposed
by the state of New Jersey, anage requirement in order to work
at a waterfront.
So pool lifeguards can be asyoung as 15.
What about here at thewaterfront?
Bridget Tierney (08:41):
Here at the waterfront you have to be 16
years old.
Dave Kotz (08:44):
To be a lifeguard?
Bridget Tierney (08:45):
To be a lifeguard and work.
Dave Kotz (08:47):
So could they work maybe in the boat area or...
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Definitely work in just the boating area at 15.
Obviously with an extralifeguard who is 16 to help
supervise it.
But we definitely have jobs forthem so that they can also still
practice and keep their skillsnice and sharp.
So that when they are 16,especially those summer
birthdays that we have, they canjust jump right in the stand and
already know how everythingworks.
Dave Kotz (09:12):
Very cool.
Let's talk quickly about thezones here you have because I
see we have a stand here right,right here on the deck.
Bridget Tierney (09:19):
So this is our deep one zone and it goes from
out to that dock that's outthere almost about halfway to
where the shallow water meetsand they cross over with the
shallow end a little bit andthen the deep two chair covers
all of those lap lanes.
And then up to the very cornerof that floating dock that's out
(09:40):
there.
Dave Kotz (09:40):
So the deep two chair is what you're calling this one
out here?
Bridget Tierney (09:43):
For this one out there, yes.
Dave Kotz (09:44):
Okay, cool.
So that takes care of theswimming area over here.
Do you guys have a swim team?
Is this like a competitive swimtype of thing?
Bridget Tierney (09:51):
It is not.
It is really more for our swimlessons that we offer here
because we do want everyone toknow how to swim.
We do offer some lessons whichthey get to practice in the
lanes and everything.
And then we also use it for ourdeep water test.
Dave Kotz (10:06):
Excellent.
Okay.
Do you allow swimming beyondthe...
Bridget Tierney (10:09):
That's when we do a twice a year swim where we
go swim to the middle of thelake and all the way out to the
furthest end of the lake becausewe make sure we have extra
lifeguards and we have at leastfive to six lifeguards out there
plus we have our eight stillmanning the regular beachfront.
Dave Kotz (10:25):
Outstanding.
That sounds pretty cool.
What else is different about awaterfront environment?
Bridget Tierney (10:33):
It's a little harder when, especially in the
deep end, when kids jump in, youhave to be a little more
diligent, making sure that theypop back up and determine, did
they swim a little bit under thewater?
How far did they swim?
Because you can't see it like atypical pool where you can say,
Oh, I see them.
You have to keep an extra eyeout.
So you definitely have to have agood scan when watching the
(10:56):
water.
Dave Kotz (10:57):
So what about, what's underneath the docks?
We're on these docks, they feelvery stable right now.
Bridget Tierney (11:02):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (11:03):
Is it possible kids could swim underneath?
Bridget Tierney (11:05):
Yes, it is possible for them to swim
underneath.
It is definitely a rule thatthey're not allowed to swim
underneath.
So we do try to make sure thatwe are very...
Dave Kotz (11:13):
Look! It's one of the rules.
It's right there.
Bridget Tierney (11:14):
There's one of the rules.
Yes.
So we definitely have more rulesprobably than a pool does just
for safety reasons because youcan't see the bottom, so it
definitely makes it harder andswimming under the dock, it's
just like holding your breathextra long in a pool.
It's just not a safe place.
Dave Kotz (11:31):
Now we know that there have been some cases where
bad things have happened.
If you surface suddenlyunderneath the dock and hit your
head, that could haveunfortunate results as well.
Bridget Tierney (11:41):
Yes, it can.
Dave Kotz (11:41):
Bridget, I want to talk to you about something very
specific that happens here atyour facility.
It's a little different than apool.
When you have a missing child oreven just a person, obviously at
a pool, we can look down in thepool and go, okay, there's no
one there.
We feel better about this.
Not so much the case here.
Bridget Tierney (12:01):
No.
Dave Kotz (12:02):
So tell us about your particular emergency action plan
when you have a missing child.
Bridget Tierney (12:06):
So our typical emergency action plan for this
would be two air horn blasts.
And if for whatever reason theair horn isn't working or you're
not near one, it's three longwhistle blasts.
And we clear everybody out ofthe water.
So we empty the entire lake andthen based on the information we
receive from whoever's reportingperson missing and their age and
(12:27):
when they were last seen is sortof where we start our search.
So if we find out that they werea smaller child, we start in the
shallow end with a line searchand we sweep with our feet and
then we move into the deeperwater and move that way.
But we also have to callvolunteers and we do have other
staff members who are trained inthe shallow water search, but
(12:48):
not the deep water search, butwe have them break off into the
wooded areas where we have aplayground that's right behind
me.
We have a snack shack.
We have picnic areas, parkinglots.
So we have to send people toland areas as well as water
areas.
So it's a little morecomplicated in that we have to
send both water and landsearches at the same time.
Dave Kotz (13:11):
We looked at places, not just the water, but where
would a child really want to goif they were going to disappear?
Bridget Tierney (13:18):
Typically the snack bar.
Dave Kotz (13:19):
Yeah, me too.
Bridget Tierney (13:20):
Occasionally you find them at the park or the
fishing docks because some kidcaught this big fish.
You never- lucky for us, wehaven't had water searches.
If we have, they've usually beengetting out of the water and
they stand next to their parentand we're like, that's good.
Those are the ones we like themost.
But typically they're not in thewater, but you still have to
(13:43):
check it.
Dave Kotz (13:44):
Is that the scariest scenario that, that you, you
kind of, when you think aboutwhat could possibly go wrong?
That's what keeps you up atnight.
Bridget Tierney (13:52):
Yeah, it definitely is.
It's definitely the one thatyou, you know, remind the
lifeguards that they have tomake sure they're vigilant on
the stand and they're alwayswatching and, you know, they're
always checking their zones and,you know, keeping an eye on that
kid who's kind of wandering bythemselves cause, you know,
sometimes we even see the kidwandering and we're like, Hey,
where's your mom and dad?
And like, you know, cause ifthey don't know where they are,
(14:13):
at least we have the kid andwe're not searching.
I rather search for parents thansearch for the child.
Indeed.
Dave Kotz (14:19):
But so it sounds like you've practiced this plan quite
a bit.
You know, it's, you're, it'sseveral things going on
simultaneously.
It just makes it interesting forthe lifeguards and the lifeguard
managers to do.
Bridget Tierney (14:30):
Yeah.
So we make sure that we practiceit at least every time we do
drills, they're practicing itbecause it is probably one of
the most common because we doencourage the parents if they
can't find their child to tellus so that we can react to the
situation as quickly aspossible.
But it is also one of thescariest and it's one of the
(14:52):
most exhausting things weprobably do.
Dave Kotz (14:54):
Gotcha.
I know one other thing that Ijust thought of that makes this
facility and most lakes andbeaches different than a pool is
water temperature.
Bridget Tierney (15:06):
Yeah.
Dave Kotz (15:07):
How warm is your lake right now?
Bridget Tierney (15:09):
Oh, it's not.
It's not at all.
I mean, it's Memorial Dayweekend and it's the top of the
water is probably okay.
But the further down you go, thecolder it gets.
Dave Kotz (15:19):
Right.
Bridget Tierney (15:20):
So you definitely need a couple 80 90
degree days to sort of heat upthe water.
So there are times where we dowarn people that it is too cold
to swim and you know, there aresome people who like cold water,
but we typically warm them if itis too cold.
Dave Kotz (15:35):
Now, along with the temperature, so my guess is I
don't see any filters and pumpsand whatnot, so we're not
chlorinating this thing.
Bridget Tierney (15:43):
No, no we are not.
Dave Kotz (15:44):
You're doing it the way nature intended.
Bridget Tierney (15:47):
Yes, yes we are.
Dave Kotz (15:49):
Okay, so do you still have to test the water
periodically?
Bridget Tierney (15:52):
We do.
So we get tested once a week tomake sure that there's no like
high bacterial levels oranything like that and as long
as our tests come back good,we're allowed to open and stay
open and we're good to go.
Dave Kotz (16:04):
Because I'm imagining there's not much you can do to
mitigate.
Bridget Tierney (16:07):
No, no.
Sadly, there's not much.
It's sort of just a waitinggame.
Dave Kotz (16:12):
Okay.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Well, Bridget, I'll spill thebeans.
I know that you're not just thelifeguard manager here at this
facility.
Also, Bridget is a lifeguardinstructor.
Bridget Tierney (16:25):
I am.
Dave Kotz (16:26):
And a lifeguard Management person, as well.
So she's taken all those RedCross courses.
Bridget Tierney (16:33):
I have.
Yes.
And it's important to have allof those courses to manage a
facility because you need allthe tools in your, you know,
tool belt to sort of solve allthe problems.
Dave Kotz (16:43):
Outstanding.
Well, Bridget, it's been apleasure talking to you again
today.
It is a beautiful day here.
I'm almost ready to jump in thewater.
Bridget Tierney (16:50):
Not quite.
There's no lifeguard yet.
Dave Kotz (16:53):
Oh, good point.
Awesome.
Well, I'm sure we'll check inwith you again this summer, but.
Thank you so much for being withus today.
Bridget Tierney (17:01):
It was lovely.
Dave Kotz (17:03):
Dave Kotz from The LifeSaving Chronicles.
See you soon.
Okay.
Thank you.
Dave Kotz (00:05):
Okay, welcome to The LifeSaving Chronicles.
I'm David Kotz, your host.
I'm here with Bridget.
Bridget is the manager of thisbeautiful aquatic facility.
Bridget, tell us all aboutyourself and your facility here.
Bridget Tierney (00:17):
Hello, my name is Bridget and I'm the aquatics
director here at the lovely DeerLake Club.
And we have this lovely,beautiful property to manage.
Dave Kotz (00:26):
How many square meters is it?
Yards?
Bridget Tierney (00:31):
We're probably looking at about two acres of
water almost.
Dave Kotz (00:39):
Two acres?
Bridget Tierney (00:39):
If we take a little bit.
Dave Kotz (00:41):
But clearly in addition to the swimming area,
which we just saw, over to ourright we have some sailboats.
They look very pretty.
We've got rowboats, so forth andso on.
So what's different, Bridget,about lifeguarding at a lake
environment or a beachenvironment than your
traditional pool environment?
Bridget Tierney (01:00):
There's a lot of differences; a few
similarities.
One of the biggest differencesis we do have to watch the
boating area as well as yourregular waterfront swimming.
So we do have some jet skis anda motorboat to help us get to
people that are far in the backas quickly as possible.
If you see, there's a skid onthe back so we can have people
(01:24):
go on the skid, get a nice upclose view to be able to perform
rescues.
Dave Kotz (01:31):
So the operator of the jet ski obviously sits here.
Sometimes you have a secondrescuer sitting on the back
right around here and then wecan put the victim, pardon me,
right across- it's the drowningperson.
New technology, new terminology,drowning person.
They go on that skid, whichhelps get them out of the water.
Bridget Tierney (01:50):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (01:51):
Very cool.
All right.
So some different equipment.
What else is different?
Bridget Tierney (01:56):
You can't see the bottom.
It's really not visible.
Dave Kotz (02:01):
That's about eight inches of water, maybe 10.
And we're just seeing the bottomthere.
So it's dark.
It's a little mucky there.
Bridget Tierney (02:07):
Dark and mucky up.
And as soon as you start movingaround down there, you start
kicking it all up, which makesvisibility even more difficult.
Dave Kotz (02:16):
Okay.
So that's definitely a challengefor lifeguards.
What about animals?
Bridget Tierney (02:22):
Oh, yes.
What animals would you like toknow about?
We have fish here and turtles.
Dave Kotz (02:28):
There are fish?
Bridget Tierney (02:29):
There are fish.
Dave Kotz (02:30):
In the lake?
Bridget Tierney (02:31):
Yes, in the lake, yes.
Dave Kotz (02:32):
Swimming with the people?
Bridget Tierney (02:33):
Swimming with the people, yes.
Dave Kotz (02:35):
Is that a problem at all or do they seem to co exist?
Bridget Tierney (02:38):
No, they co exist.
Okay.
They're pretty much scared ofthe, giant child splashing.
Dave Kotz (02:43):
So the fish aren't a problem.
How about other animals in thewater?
Bridget Tierney (02:49):
For the most part, most of them tend to stay
away.
You get your occasional watersnake that decides to relocate
to a sunnier spot, but weusually splash them away and
they tend to disappear quitequickly.
Dave Kotz (03:00):
Yeah, I'm not sure I'm fond of the water snake
thing.
Bridget Tierney (03:03):
No.
It's an acquired taste.
Dave Kotz (03:05):
Okay, so we got some snakes.
Turtles.
Bridget Tierney (03:08):
Turtles.
We have turtles.
Yep.
Okay.
They make their occasionalappearance here and there, but
they tend to keep to themselves.
Dave Kotz (03:16):
Okay, so Fish, turtles, snakes.
Anything else?
Bridget Tierney (03:24):
Are we talking inside or outside of the water?
Dave Kotz (03:26):
Oh yeah, go for it.
What do you got?
Bridget Tierney (03:28):
Oh, we've got deer, bear, fox, coyotes.
Dave Kotz (03:31):
Did you say bear?
Bridget Tierney (03:34):
Yes, we do.
Dave Kotz (03:37):
At the Deer Lake Club, I was expecting the deer.
That's making sense.
Bridget Tierney (03:40):
Yes.
No, we do.
We have bears.
Dave Kotz (03:41):
How do you deal With bears and people interacting.
That seems like a challenge.
Bridget Tierney (03:46):
It is a challenge.
It is.
So we, always make sure staff isalerted and we usually try to
just have staff handle it, deep,loud voices, make sure they try
to stay away from people andthat they are making their way
towards people.
We notify them that some bear iscoming.
Dave Kotz (04:00):
So have there been any unfortunate incidences or
have you guys coexisted fairly?
Bridget Tierney (04:04):
We've coexisted fairly well.
Some close encounters, butnothing like dangerous.
Dave Kotz (04:11):
Cool.
So at a facility like this, howmany lifeguards do you have on
duty at one time?
Bridget Tierney (04:17):
So typically when we're at our peak hours, we
usually have about eightlifeguards working.
Dave Kotz (04:23):
All right.
So obviously we see a couple oflifeguards stands on the beach.
We have two stands on the beachthat we see that, obviously,
someone would sit in.
I see two stands on the dock,one on the shore side dock, one
on the far side dock.
What else- where else do youposition your lifeguards?
Bridget Tierney (04:39):
So we usually position a lifeguard near the
slide.
And then we have anotherlifeguard that sort of roves
around in the deep end to coverdeep water tests or just to make
sure they can cover any areaswhere it's a little more
populated.
We also have a lifeguardcovering the boats, They also
monitor to make sure thateveryone in the boating area is
also safe.
Dave Kotz (04:58):
Excellent.
Now, your lifeguards have aslightly different training
requirement than poollifeguards.
Can you tell me a little bitabout the additional training
that's required?
Bridget Tierney (05:08):
So they are required to be able to swim a
little bit longer because it isopen water, so they do have to
swim a longer distance.
They are also required to beable to use a mask and fins.
And with mask and fins, it comeswith several skills that they
need to be able to do.
One of them being a deep waterline search for if- God forbid
there was a missing person andthey would all sort of line up,
(05:28):
dive to the bottom, do threesweeps, and come back up, and
then they would continue untileither the person is found,
hopefully on land, or dead inthe water.
Dave Kotz (05:38):
So there's two different search techniques that
you're just talking about,right?
So one's a line search wherewe're all walking.
Bridget Tierney (05:43):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (05:44):
And the other is the mask and fin kind of search
where we're diving down to thebottom and checking out the
bottom.
I'm trying to think if there'sanything else that's like really
unique about this particularfacility.
Bridget Tierney (05:55):
We use a rescue board which similar to a
surfboard style but when we aredoing any of our- twice a year
we do a long distance swim and amiddle distance swim out in the
middle of the lake and we usethe rescue board to go out there
because it's a little faster.
It's a little easier to maneuverand in open water, it's exactly
(06:16):
like using a rescue tube, butinstead of you having to swim
the person back, you can paddleyourself back on a board.
Dave Kotz (06:23):
And so for distressed swimmers, how many people can
you support on one rescue board?
Bridget Tierney (06:28):
You can support at least two to three people on
a rescue board, depending onsizes.
Dave Kotz (06:33):
Okay.
Very cool.
So not only can you make rescuesfaster, but you can rescue more
people with a rescue board.
Very cool stuff.
We've got one at Round ValleyReservoir.
It was pretty cool.
Were you there for Round Valley?
So there's a great one at RoundValley.
We'll check that out.
All right.
We're back here with Bridget atthe Deer Lake Club in Boonton,
New Jersey.
(06:53):
It is a gorgeous day.
Friday before Memorial Day.
I've noticed that they've madesome serious effort to making
sure everything looks good.
I saw Bridget's mother plantingflowers, making sure this place
is looking just beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Bridget Tierney (07:09):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (07:11):
I know we're out here on the dock now and you can see
we've got a backboard here.
We're ready to go.
So the equipment's here.
What about in service training?
Is that different here at thelake than it is at the pool?
Bridget Tierney (07:23):
It is different here.
So we do training at least oncea week for the entire summer and
we make sure that they doconditioning so that they are
physically fit and ready to dothe job for the week and they
swim at least 22 laps once aweek along with practicing other
skills so that they stay sharpon their skills.
Plus with these high edges here,it's really important to
(07:44):
practice being able to getsomebody in and out of the water
safely.
Dave Kotz (07:48):
That's at least 18 inches.
Bridget Tierney (07:50):
It is.
Dave Kotz (07:50):
So it's not, it's like some of the pools that we
work at, it's flush.
Bridget Tierney (07:55):
Right.
Slide them right on and here youhave to do a little more heavy
lifting to get them upsometimes.
Dave Kotz (08:00):
Gotcha.
Bridget Tierney (08:00):
Yeah.
Dave Kotz (08:01):
So your emergency action plan or EAP is a little
more involved here than it is atthe pool.
Bridget Tierney (08:06):
It is.
So we practice finding whichwould be the quickest exit point
based on where they are.
So sometimes we do a little stopmotion rescues where we do a
rescue, I have them pause andsay which exit point would be
closer so that they can learnwhere they are.
They can make faster decisions.
Dave Kotz (08:24):
That sounds very smart.
That's nice.
So the other thing we weretalking about as we were
preparing is there's anadditional requirement imposed
by the state of New Jersey, anage requirement in order to work
at a waterfront.
So pool lifeguards can be asyoung as 15.
What about here at thewaterfront?
Bridget Tierney (08:41):
Here at the waterfront you have to be 16
years old.
Dave Kotz (08:44):
To be a lifeguard?
Bridget Tierney (08:45):
To be a lifeguard and work.
Dave Kotz (08:47):
So could they work maybe in the boat area or...
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Definitely work in just the boating area at 15.
Obviously with an extralifeguard who is 16 to help
supervise it.
But we definitely have jobs forthem so that they can also still
practice and keep their skillsnice and sharp.
So that when they are 16,especially those summer
birthdays that we have, they canjust jump right in the stand and
already know how everythingworks.
Dave Kotz (09:12):
Very cool.
Let's talk quickly about thezones here you have because I
see we have a stand here right,right here on the deck.
Bridget Tierney (09:19):
So this is our deep one zone and it goes from
out to that dock that's outthere almost about halfway to
where the shallow water meetsand they cross over with the
shallow end a little bit andthen the deep two chair covers
all of those lap lanes.
And then up to the very cornerof that floating dock that's out
(09:40):
there.
Dave Kotz (09:40):
So the deep two chair is what you're calling this one
out here?
Bridget Tierney (09:43):
For this one out there, yes.
Dave Kotz (09:44):
Okay, cool.
So that takes care of theswimming area over here.
Do you guys have a swim team?
Is this like a competitive swimtype of thing?
Bridget Tierney (09:51):
It is not.
It is really more for our swimlessons that we offer here
because we do want everyone toknow how to swim.
We do offer some lessons whichthey get to practice in the
lanes and everything.
And then we also use it for ourdeep water test.
Dave Kotz (10:06):
Excellent.
Okay.
Do you allow swimming beyondthe...
Bridget Tierney (10:09):
That's when we do a twice a year swim where we
go swim to the middle of thelake and all the way out to the
furthest end of the lake becausewe make sure we have extra
lifeguards and we have at leastfive to six lifeguards out there
plus we have our eight stillmanning the regular beachfront.
Dave Kotz (10:25):
Outstanding.
That sounds pretty cool.
What else is different about awaterfront environment?
Bridget Tierney (10:33):
It's a little harder when, especially in the
deep end, when kids jump in, youhave to be a little more
diligent, making sure that theypop back up and determine, did
they swim a little bit under thewater?
How far did they swim?
Because you can't see it like atypical pool where you can say,
Oh, I see them.
You have to keep an extra eyeout.
So you definitely have to have agood scan when watching the
(10:56):
water.
Dave Kotz (10:57):
So what about, what's underneath the docks?
We're on these docks, they feelvery stable right now.
Bridget Tierney (11:02):
Yes.
Dave Kotz (11:03):
Is it possible kids could swim underneath?
Bridget Tierney (11:05):
Yes, it is possible for them to swim
underneath.
It is definitely a rule thatthey're not allowed to swim
underneath.
So we do try to make sure thatwe are very...
Dave Kotz (11:13):
Look! It's one of the rules.
It's right there.
Bridget Tierney (11:14):
There's one of the rules.
Yes.
So we definitely have more rulesprobably than a pool does just
for safety reasons because youcan't see the bottom, so it
definitely makes it harder andswimming under the dock, it's
just like holding your breathextra long in a pool.
It's just not a safe place.
Dave Kotz (11:31):
Now we know that there have been some cases where
bad things have happened.
If you surface suddenlyunderneath the dock and hit your
head, that could haveunfortunate results as well.
Bridget Tierney (11:41):
Yes, it can.
Dave Kotz (11:41):
Bridget, I want to talk to you about something very
specific that happens here atyour facility.
It's a little different than apool.
When you have a missing child oreven just a person, obviously at
a pool, we can look down in thepool and go, okay, there's no
one there.
We feel better about this.
Not so much the case here.
Bridget Tierney (12:01):
No.
Dave Kotz (12:02):
So tell us about your particular emergency action plan
when you have a missing child.
Bridget Tierney (12:06):
So our typical emergency action plan for this
would be two air horn blasts.
And if for whatever reason theair horn isn't working or you're
not near one, it's three longwhistle blasts.
And we clear everybody out ofthe water.
So we empty the entire lake andthen based on the information we
receive from whoever's reportingperson missing and their age and
(12:27):
when they were last seen is sortof where we start our search.
So if we find out that they werea smaller child, we start in the
shallow end with a line searchand we sweep with our feet and
then we move into the deeperwater and move that way.
But we also have to callvolunteers and we do have other
staff members who are trained inthe shallow water search, but
(12:48):
not the deep water search, butwe have them break off into the
wooded areas where we have aplayground that's right behind
me.
We have a snack shack.
We have picnic areas, parkinglots.
So we have to send people toland areas as well as water
areas.
So it's a little morecomplicated in that we have to
send both water and landsearches at the same time.
Dave Kotz (13:11):
We looked at places, not just the water, but where
would a child really want to goif they were going to disappear?
Bridget Tierney (13:18):
Typically the snack bar.
Dave Kotz (13:19):
Yeah, me too.
Bridget Tierney (13:20):
Occasionally you find them at the park or the
fishing docks because some kidcaught this big fish.
You never- lucky for us, wehaven't had water searches.
If we have, they've usually beengetting out of the water and
they stand next to their parentand we're like, that's good.
Those are the ones we like themost.
But typically they're not in thewater, but you still have to
(13:43):
check it.
Dave Kotz (13:44):
Is that the scariest scenario that, that you, you
kind of, when you think aboutwhat could possibly go wrong?
That's what keeps you up atnight.
Bridget Tierney (13:52):
Yeah, it definitely is.
It's definitely the one thatyou, you know, remind the
lifeguards that they have tomake sure they're vigilant on
the stand and they're alwayswatching and, you know, they're
always checking their zones and,you know, keeping an eye on that
kid who's kind of wandering bythemselves cause, you know,
sometimes we even see the kidwandering and we're like, Hey,
where's your mom and dad?
And like, you know, cause ifthey don't know where they are,
(14:13):
at least we have the kid andwe're not searching.
I rather search for parents thansearch for the child.
Indeed.
Dave Kotz (14:19):
But so it sounds like you've practiced this plan quite
a bit.
You know, it's, you're, it'sseveral things going on
simultaneously.
It just makes it interesting forthe lifeguards and the lifeguard
managers to do.
Bridget Tierney (14:30):
Yeah.
So we make sure that we practiceit at least every time we do
drills, they're practicing itbecause it is probably one of
the most common because we doencourage the parents if they
can't find their child to tellus so that we can react to the
situation as quickly aspossible.
But it is also one of thescariest and it's one of the
(14:52):
most exhausting things weprobably do.
Dave Kotz (14:54):
Gotcha.
I know one other thing that Ijust thought of that makes this
facility and most lakes andbeaches different than a pool is
water temperature.
Bridget Tierney (15:06):
Yeah.
Dave Kotz (15:07):
How warm is your lake right now?
Bridget Tierney (15:09):
Oh, it's not.
It's not at all.
I mean, it's Memorial Dayweekend and it's the top of the
water is probably okay.
But the further down you go, thecolder it gets.
Dave Kotz (15:19):
Right.
Bridget Tierney (15:20):
So you definitely need a couple 80 90
degree days to sort of heat upthe water.
So there are times where we dowarn people that it is too cold
to swim and you know, there aresome people who like cold water,
but we typically warm them if itis too cold.
Dave Kotz (15:35):
Now, along with the temperature, so my guess is I
don't see any filters and pumpsand whatnot, so we're not
chlorinating this thing.
Bridget Tierney (15:43):
No, no we are not.
Dave Kotz (15:44):
You're doing it the way nature intended.
Bridget Tierney (15:47):
Yes, yes we are.
Dave Kotz (15:49):
Okay, so do you still have to test the water
periodically?
Bridget Tierney (15:52):
We do.
So we get tested once a week tomake sure that there's no like
high bacterial levels oranything like that and as long
as our tests come back good,we're allowed to open and stay
open and we're good to go.
Dave Kotz (16:04):
Because I'm imagining there's not much you can do to
mitigate.
Bridget Tierney (16:07):
No, no.
Sadly, there's not much.
It's sort of just a waitinggame.
Dave Kotz (16:12):
Okay.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Well, Bridget, I'll spill thebeans.
I know that you're not just thelifeguard manager here at this
facility.
Also, Bridget is a lifeguardinstructor.
Bridget Tierney (16:25):
I am.
Dave Kotz (16:26):
And a lifeguard Management person, as well.
So she's taken all those RedCross courses.
Bridget Tierney (16:33):
I have.
Yes.
And it's important to have allof those courses to manage a
facility because you need allthe tools in your, you know,
tool belt to sort of solve allthe problems.
Dave Kotz (16:43):
Outstanding.
Well, Bridget, it's been apleasure talking to you again
today.
It is a beautiful day here.
I'm almost ready to jump in thewater.
Bridget Tierney (16:50):
Not quite.
There's no lifeguard yet.
Dave Kotz (16:53):
Oh, good point.
Awesome.
Well, I'm sure we'll check inwith you again this summer, but.
Thank you so much for being withus today.
Bridget Tierney (17:01):
It was lovely.
Dave Kotz (17:03):
Dave Kotz from The LifeSaving Chronicles.
See you soon.
Okay.
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