Trygfonden’s lifeguards kicked off the swimming season this weekend, and they were responsible for a single lifesaving operation.
The Trygfonden’s coastal lifeguards opened the season on the beaches this weekend, and it was busier than last year.
The lifeguard towers were opened on Friday and up until Sunday, June 29, lifeguards carried out 3,066 interventions. In one case, one or more people were in danger of death.
The Trygfonden writes this in a press release.
Of the more than 3,000 interventions, 85 of them were ordinary first aid actions.
The rest were so-called preventive and educational efforts.
Fewer assignments last year
During the opening weekend of the summer holidays last year, lifeguards had 650 fewer interventions. At that time, there were 24 general first aid interventions and one life-saving intervention.
In general, this year’s swimming season got off to a good start, says Anders Myrhøj, head of coastal lifeguarding at Trygfonden’s coastal lifeguarding.
“The coming days are expected to be warm, and although the water temperatures are still only around 16 to 18 degrees, we expect that quite a few people will find their way to the beach.”
“And it’s good to know the meaning of the lifeguard flags, because they tell you about the swimming conditions at each beach,” he says.
The lifeguard towers fly yellow, red or red-yellow flags every day.
The yellow flag means that you need to be extra careful. It has been up in many places during the opening weekend due to strong gusts of wind.
However, Anders Myrhøj expects that there will now be days with red and yellow flags. The red and yellow flag is a step down the ladder and simply means that bathers must be ‘generally attentive’.
The red flag means that lifeguards advise against all swimming.
34 beaches and harbors
This summer, Trygfonden’s lifeguard towers and lifeguards can be found at 34 beaches and marinas around the country. They will be present until the latter half of August.
The coming days look set to bring high temperatures, so lifeguards expect many people to find their way to the beach.
“They are looking forward to it, but encourage people to familiarize themselves with what the different lifeguard flags mean, because they tell you whether you should be generally alert when swimming or, for example, stay completely on land,” says the coastal lifeguard chief.
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