LIHU’E — While Kaua’i County water safety officials were talking to the County Council about the status of the county lifeguard plan, there was another near-drowning in Po’ipu Thursday morning. Authorities said an unidentified male was pulled from the ocean
LIHU’E — While Kaua’i County water safety officials were talking to the County Council about the status of the county lifeguard plan, there was another near-drowning in Po’ipu Thursday morning.
Authorities said an unidentified male was pulled from the ocean and given emergency attention on the beach. Further information on his condition was unavailable.
Monday, a 36-year-old Arizona police detective, Doug Fisher, died in the ocean off Po’ipu while scuba diving. Fisher was the second confirmed drowning victim on Kaua’i this year. A third person disappeared and is considered a possible drowning victim after last being seen on Anini Beach during a snorkeling outing last month.
Another tourist was rescued off Kalalau Beach Tuesday by tour boats. That visitor reportedly floundered in high seas for nearly two hours.
Fire chief David Sproat and Fire Department battalion chief Bob Kaden, in charge of the county’s lifeguards, spoke to the council Thursday about the issue of saving lives in the ocean around Kaua’i.
Councilman Gary Hooser, chairman of the council’s Energy and Public Safety Committee, had requested an update on the lifeguard program from the Water Safety Task Force.
“We need to get really aggressive on this,” Hooser said.
Between 1970 and 2000, 205 people drowned off Kaua`i. Two of last year’s victim’s drowned off Po’ipu, near where Fisher perished Monday.
To put that number in perspective, there were 64 traffic accidents on Kaua`i between 1990 and 1999, resulting in 72 fatalities. There were 72 fatal drownings in the same 10-year-period of time.
Sproat told the council that the five-year Water Safety Master Plan to add 10 full-time lifeguards between 1997 and next year did not take into account the “opening and guarding of Kekaha Beach,” or the county taking over responsibility for Kealia Beach.
“We are stretched thin and we have new beaches coming on line. I’m sure you will want to expand water safety on those new beaches,” Sproat said.
There are seven manned lifeguard towers, and if a Kealia tower opens, the county would be expected to cover eight beaches.
There are 17 full-time lifeguards. The minimum number needed, according to water safety officials, for adequate coverage of just the county’s beaches is 25.
The council and county administration is funding three more positions for this summer, which means by May or June, 20 lifeguards would be on duty.
Kaden listed some of the things that have already been done vis a vis water safety. He mentioned brochures that are being placed in local hotels and motels with the help of the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau, expanded use of signs on beaches warning of ocean danger and the junior lifeguard program, among other projects.
“Everyone is aware that just throwing signs out on the beach is not enough,” Kaden said.
Sproat pointed out that the majority of drownings are at unguarded state beaches, such as Hanakapi’ai.
The county has been trying for years to get the state to grant the county immunity from lifeguard and safety liability issues. The state has indemnity to lawsuits stemming from drownings and serious injuries in the water; the county does not.
County attorney Hartwell Blake has been at the Legislature with other county officials, lobbying for House Bill 796 which deals specifically with beach immunity. But Blake said his optimism earlier in this legislative session is dwindling.
“The Consumer Lawyers Association is dead set against immunity,” Blake said.
“The state needs to step up and be accountable. But we still haven’t gotten to” covering state beaches, said Councilman Ron Kouchi. “We’ve got to fully staff our own beaches” first.
Kouchi noted the state spends $60 million annually to market Hawai’i as a destination, which is nearly the equal of Kaua’i County’s operating budget (approximately $70 million).
“I think people are tired of hearing the county and the state bickering back and forth while people die,” Hooser said.
Councilman Kaipo Asing asked why the county doesn’t go ahead and staff state beaches with lifeguards.
“Liability difficulties should not be used as an excuse. We’re not talking about money. I don’t understand all of the talk about immunity and indemnification. Something’s wrong with the way we are thinking.”
Sproat said Mayor Maryanne Kusaka “considers it extremely risky” for the county to assign lifeguards to state beaches without immunity. “She will not put the county at risk.”
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
