Two recent rescues in wintery storm conditions underscore the need to take extraordinary care whenever surf levels are high.
\nA man died saving his dog in the first incident, which occurred Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 1:50 p.m. at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach.
\nThe second incident occurred a day later, on Thursday, Jan. 10 about 10:45 a.m., when a pair of San Diego Seals professional lacrosse players jumped from The Arch at Sunset Cliffs into a high surf area and had to be rescued.
\nRegarding the Jan. 10 incident, San Diego Fire Rescue spokesperson Monica Munoz said lifeguards were notified about two men in their 20s who\u2019d jumped into the water at The Arch \u2013 a popular spot for cliff jumpers.\u00a0
\n“One was rescued from the water by lifeguards on a rescue craft and taken to OB,” Munoz said. “The other had climbed onto a cliff ledge. Because of high surf, lifeguards and firefighters performed a cliff rescue to get the second person.”
\nMunoz said there were no injuries to either of the two men that required their hospitalization.
\n“It is against San Diego Municipal Code to jump into the Pacific Ocean from a height greater than five feet because it\u2019s dangerous,” said Munoz, noting, “Especially during high surf events, it is not recommended that people get into the water, unless they are swimming near a lifeguard and have a lot of experience as a swimmer.”
\nOf the Jan. 9 incident, Munoz, said: “SDFD Dispatch Center receive a request for help from the channel area at Dog Beach where a man had been swept into the water as he was trying to retrieve his dog from the river channel. Witnesses told lifeguards that he was found face down in the water a few minutes after he went in.
\n“Lifeguards were able to pull him from the water using a rescue water craft,” Munoz said. “They brought him to the beach and started CPR.”
\nThe dog either came out of the water on its own or was brought out of the water by someone else, and was eventually taken to family members, noted Munoz.
\nThe Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the victim as Nevada resident Gregg Owens. He was admitted to UCSD Hospital’s intensive care unit where he was later pronounced dead.
\nSDFD lifeguards estimated Owen\u2019s age as somewhere in his 50s or 60s.
\nSan Diego lifeguards offer these beach and water safety tips: \u2022 Swim near a lifeguard; \u2022 Never swim alone; \u2022 Supervise children closely, even when lifeguards are present; \u2022 Don’t rely on flotation devices, such as rafts or inner-tubes;\u00a0 \u2022 If caught in a rip current, swim sideways until free, don’t swim against the current’s pull; \u2022 Do not swim while under the influence of illicit drugs, medications that may cause impairment or alcohol; \u2022 Protect your head, neck and spine \u2013 don’t dive into unfamiliar waters \u2013 feet first, first time; \u2022 If you are in trouble, call or wave for help; \u2022 Follow regulations and lifeguard directions; \u2022 Swim parallel to shore if you wish to swim long distances; \u2022 Scuba dive only if trained and certified \u2013 and within the limits of your experience and training; \u2022 Report hazardous conditions to lifeguards or other beach management personnel; \u2022 Stay clear of coastal bluffs, they can collapse and cause injury; \u2022 Never turn your back to the ocean \u2013 you may be swept off coastal bluffs or tide pool areas by waves that can come without warning.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two recent rescues in wintery storm conditions underscore the need to take extraordinary care whenever surf levels are high. A man died saving his dog in the first incident, which occurred Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 1:50 p.m. at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. The second incident occurred a day later, on Thursday, Jan. 10 about […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":275343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"San Diego lifeguards save Seals in dramatic rescue at Sunset Cliffs","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}