The start of RNLI Lifeguards

RNLI Lifeguards have not always been around.  RNLI Lifeguards came about many years after the RNLI first started saving lives using Lifeboats.  In 1824 the RNLI founded as The National Society for Preservation of Life from Shiprecks 177 years later the RNLI first introduced Lifeguards.

IN 2001 the RNLI piloted the Beach Rescue service.  The pilot was rolled out to 5 local authorities Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Caradon and Restormel.  The RNLI ran the Lifeguard Service for the council under the Beach Rescue name.

2002 two more local authorities called upon the RNLI to provide their Lifeguard service South Hams and Carrick.

2003 The Beach Rescue Service is renamed Beach Lifeguards.

2004 North Cornwall Council came on board and the RNLI ran their service.

2005 Torridge Council brought in the RNLI Lifeguard Service.

2006 Beaches in North Devon get RNLI Lifeguards.

2007 The RNLI took on Beaches in West Dorset, Pembrokeshire and one Beach in East Devon. In 2007 Beach Lifeguards was renamed RNLI Lifeguards

Today the Lifeguard service has spread further around the UK.  The RNLI runs the Lifeguards in nearly every local authority area in the whole of the Southwest.  There are Lifegaurds in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, East Anglia and up north at East Lindsey District Council beaches.

I am sure the service will continue to expand over the coming years.

All information gathered from the RNLI Lifeguard Wet and Dry Induction Manual.

Winter developments in Exmouth.

Burt has been busy with his kite cam http://www.flickr.com/photos/burtskitecam/

The new Exmouth RNLI Lifeboat House looks as if it is coming along nicely.

The new boat house will be metres from our Lifeguard hut and both the inshore and allweather Lifeboats will launched just outside our Red and Yellow flags.

Check out more of the pictures on Burts kite cam on his flickr site here.

Lifeguards are heading North

RNLI Lifeguarding is heading North!

Today the RNLI announced that they have been asked by another Local Authority to run their Lifeguard Service.

It seems that Local Authorities and Private beach owners are calling in the RLNI services at rate of knots. For you the general public and for Lifeguards this can only be a good thing.

Check out the full press release here

Photo Credit www.rnli.org.uk

ATV/Quad

This is our ATV (all terrain vehicle) at Exmouth, its another piece of Yammaha machinery. Great piece of kit, its used to recover the RWC, also for patrolling the beach and getting to incidents. Without the quad we would struggle to get the RWC up and down the beach, even the 350cc 4×4 quad struggles some times.

Here are a few pictures of it.

Parked up infront the hut.

In action returning from a patrol along the beach.

As you can see on the front of the quad are a few pieces of kit. The first is a rescue tube. See here for more info on rescue tubes! The tube is strapped on using velcro so it can be removed from the quad very quickly.

The second piece of kit is a tow rope. The sand on Exmouth can be very soft. Sometimes when towing the RWC the quad can get bogged down. We then have to unhitch the RWC trailer move the quad on to harder sand and attach the tow rope to pull the RWC out a bit of a faff but works well.

The last piece of kit is a rubber mallet. A random bit of kit but it has its uses! We have two windbreaks that we put up at the far end of the red and yellow flagged area. They say “swim between the red and yellow flags”. These need moving up and down the beach throughout the day with the tide, so one of the mallets we have lives on the quad.

FPOS

FPOS stands for first person on scene.

This is the advanced first aid course RNLI Lifeguards do before working on the beach. The course is an extension to the first aid qualification which is part of the SLSGB and RLSS Beach Lifeguard Qualifications.

The FPOS course qualifies RNLI Lifeguards to use various bits of kit. We get taught how to use a spinal board and neck collars. We get taught further techniques for stopping bleeding. We are also shown how to use oxygen for conscious and unconscious patients. Finally we are taught how to use a defib. All of these bits of kit can be found in every RNLI Lifeguard facility.

The FPOS course is great.  The last one I went on was held at the Lifeboat College in Poole.  The trainers make sure there is a good combination of theory and practical.

I have heard that there may be a few new elements to the course for next year, but more on that when I know more!

The course I have done have all be run by some great guys from AID Training. They are nearly all paramedics and have stories that relate to everything you learn. This is a course that always entertains and keeps me interested for the full 3 days.

Coumunity First Responder

The FPOS-First Person On Scene First Aid course we do as RNLI Lifeguards, qualifies us as community first responders.

Normally community first responders are members of communities who get trained by the local ambulance service to a high first aid standard then respond to various first aid incidents close to there work or home on behalf of the local ambulance service. RNLI Lifeguards are community first responders while at work on the beach.

The ambulance service can request the Lifeguards assistance at medical emergencies at the beach or very close to it. As long as we are not already in the middle of an incident involving all the Lifeguards on the beach we do our best to help the ambulance service. An ambulance is always sent to these calls but if a Lifeguard responder can get there quicker the patient will receive treatment for their injury or problem sooner.

In Exmouth we are lucky there is an ambulance station near by so we don’t often get called first. On some of the other RNLI Lifeguarded beaches the Lifeguards are used a lot more by the ambulance service.

More on the FPOS course soon.