Seniors Shannon Adkins, and Sarah Burris and junior Stephanie Ertl, all members of the Pepperdine University swim team, made the cut to advance to the next step toward becoming certified Los Angeles County lifeguards. All three completed a 1,000-meter ocean swim on Oct. 13 and will now move on to the interview stage of the three-step process. Should they make it through the interview, they will begin a two-month intensive training course that includes training in rescue boat operations, underwater rescue and recovery, swift water rescue, cliff rescue, marine mammal rescue and marine firefighting.
LA County Lifeguards is a division of the LA County Fire Department that safeguards 31 miles of beach and 72 miles of coastline from San Pedro to up north into Malibu.
With rescue boat services operating out of three other harbors (Los Angeles, King and Marina Del Rey), the LA County Lifeguard service is the largest of all professional lifeguard services in the world. It employs 132 year-round lifeguards and 650 seasonal lifeguards, with headquarters located in Hermosa, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey and Zuma beach.