Black’s Beach will no longer be patrolled by lifeguards from Labor Day through May as part of the $34 million midyear cuts made to lifeguard and fire services to help close the city’s anticipated $179 million shortfall in the 2011 general fund. Two lifeguards will continue to patrol Black’s Beach during the summer from June through Labor Day.  “There are many other areas of the San Diego coastline that have been unguarded for decades, among those being Point Loma, Sunset Cliffs and certain areas along Ocean Beach,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque. “[Those beaches] are a lot more heavily populated in terms of bathers than the few-hundred-yard area of Black’s Beach.” However, lifeguard sergeant Ed Harris questioned the savings from cutting the Black’s Beach winter lifeguards, whom he believes help prevent accidents and costly rescues. Harris spoke on behalf of himself and not for Lifeguard Services. According to Harris, a person got stuck on the cliffs on Jan. 5. Following a 9-1-1 call, the police department sent its helicopter, the fire department sent its truck and helicopter and two lifeguards from La Jolla Shores responded, which meant shuffling lifeguards from other beaches to cover the Shores. “As we get closer to summer, we’ll receive more and more calls very similar to that, where we can’t determine exactly what’s going on because we’re not up there,” Harris said. “So we’re going to have to rob resources from other districts, shuttle resources and launch helicopters. We question the overall logic of that and the true cost savings.”  The winter lifeguards had been charged with patrolling the beach and preventing accidents, like warning people not to climb the rocks or swim in areas with strong rip tides, Harris said. “If we can keep them from doing something that we see is going to get them into trouble than we’ve avoided an accident and we don’t have to make a rescue,” Harris said. The city has asked state lifeguards to help respond to emergencies, but it may take up to 20 minutes for a lifeguard to respond, according to the city’s Website.  “If you’re not certain of the safety of the area or your own safety, don’t go out,” Luque said. “It’s not uncommon to have unguarded beaches around San Diego. People just have to use common sense, and be safe.”