A simple mission — to save a life
Summer of 2008 was a busy one for Brick lifeguard staff
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
One hour on, one hour off. It's been longtime head lifeguard Donovan Brown's mantra for many years.

ERIC SUCAR staff Brick lifeguards Michael Bange (from left) Will Vanbramer, John Vaguerio and Thomas Brown kick off a rescue exercise as part of their daily training session on Aug. 28.

While guards in other New Jersey Shore towns may spend substantially more time in the stands during a shift, that is not the case on Brick's ocean beaches.

Simply put, Brown says it's impossible to sit up in a stand and watch the water for hours on end. Dwindling concentration and lifeguard fatigue could lead to a tragedy.

So none of Brick's 71 guards spends more than an hour at a time scanning the water. But when they are up in the stands, it's total vigilance, he said.

"They are focused on the water," Brown said. "They are not allowed to turn around. No cell phones, no music. Nothing. They are there to scan the water. People know we have people who really watch the water. "

Brown, 52, says he can be a "pain in the butt" boss. He doesn't ever want to see a guard even leaning back in the stand.

Above: A Brick lifeguard fires a rescue line out to some fellow guards during a rescue training session on Brick Beach 3 on Aug. 28. Right: Lifeguard Will Vanbramer volunteers as the "victim" during a neck injury rescue exercise. Bottom: Members of the lifeguard team run through an exercise.

"I'll get on the radio and remind them to sit up," he said. "I'm not the easiest person to work for."

"He's a fair guy," said 16-yearold lifeguard John Vagueiro. "A fair guy."

"I'm easy to work for if you're doing your job," Brown said.

No one has drowned on a Brick beach that Brown can remember in his 34 years on the job.

"Knock on wood," he said with a grimace.

He rapped a deeply tanned fist on the wooden picnic table near the guards' rest area at Brick Beach 3 on the Thursday before Labor Day.

"Knock on wood," he yelled to the nearby guards on their breaks.

It's been a busy summer for the young men and women who spend their workdays scanning the waves. Wind and swells from Hurricane Bertha and storms up to 500 miles offshore churned the water and spawned rip currents.

Sandbars have a tendency to shift, which can also put swimmers in trouble, Brown said.

"Sandbars are very soft," he said. "They blow out. People are standing waist deep and they just get sucked out. People get scared."

The lifeguard staff made more than 100 saves over a three-week period in July.

On one of those mornings, 24 swimmers were in trouble, all at the same time. The guards saved every one of them.

Brown and lifeguard Capt. Daniel Santaniello both attended the Aug. 19 Township Council meeting to accept a resolution from Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis and council members honoring their efforts and proclaiming Aug. 20 as "Brick Township Lifeguard Day."

"You have standing here two of our silent heroes," council President Ruthanne Scaturro said. "This year was a particularly precarious year because of all the storms at sea. Just think of all the families and the lives they have touched. These gentlemen lead by example. They do an excellent job."

"We've got the safest beaches in the state of New Jersey," Acropolis said during the presentation. "You go and try and do that when it's 95 degrees and you have to concentrate 100 percent of the time."

Part of the lifeguard staff's admirable number of saves this summer can be attributed to township officials, who are not penny pinchers when it comes to the beach budget, Brown said.

"This town is awesome when it comes to safety," he said, as he took a swig from a bottle of Propel FitnessWater.

The lifeguard staff trains every morning for an hour, rain or shine. They practice rescue, CPR, spinalinjury, first-response and red-alert drills, over and over. There is no such thing as too much training.

Only the best of the "rookies" are even considered for training. A potential guard must be able to swim 500 yards in under 10 minutes, Santaniello said.

And unlike some other Shore towns, all Brick lifeguards are fully trained by opening day of each season, he said.

"These guys have to put in 22 hours of training before they sit in that chair," Santaniello said. "That's all the stuff the public doesn't know about."

The lifeguards' nationally certified dive team is another plus. The team, which focuses on rescue, not recovery, can be suited up and in the water within 45 seconds, Brown said.

Brown or Santaniello spend part of every training session playing a submerged "victim." It's up to the lifeguard staff to find him as soon as possible. Earlier in the season, the water temperature was still hovering in the 50s, Brown said.

"If I go in, they go in," he said.

Brick lifeguards don't participate in the traditional ocean competitions between guards in other towns along the Jersey Shore, Santaniello said.

"It takes away from our time," he said. "We are here for the township of Brick, to save some lives. Too much time goes to tournaments."

There are one or two "walker" guards on the beach on foot patrol, in addition to two guards on watch in each of the stands, Santaniello said.

"They are there to help somebody out if they get knocked down by a wave," he said. "They can stop and talk to people. "I don't think there are any other beaches that do it."

But whether they are in the stands or on foot, the guards are always scanning the water, Brown said.

"You'll see the guards' heads moving back and forth," he said.

Either Santaniello or Brown is at work at 4:30 a.m., depending on whose turn it is to rake the beaches that day. Their day ends at 5:45 p.m., when the crowds have left. "I go to bed early," Brown laughed.

Both men spent their childhood summers on Brick beaches. Santaniello started as a parking lot attendant at 14. He became a lifeguard at 15.

"I was always at the beach," he said. Brown, a physical education teacher at Veterans Memorial Middle School, started his lifeguard career in the mid-1970s.

"He was a little kid when I was a lifeguard," Brown said with a smile, and pointed to Santaniello.