WATCH: First LIFE Rescue Station Drowning Prevention Device Unveiled In Cocoa Beach
By Miguel Arango // January 25, 2017
will be located at each beach access point
ABOVE VIDEO: The City of Cocoa Beach, along with the LIFE™ Rescue Project, unveil its first LIFE™ Rescue Station. The drowning prevention device is the first of 35 that will be located at each beach access point in the city limits of Cocoa Beach. Late last year the Cocoa Beach City Commission voted unanimously to install the devices.
BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – The City of Cocoa Beach, along with the LIFE™ Rescue Project, will be unveiling its first LIFE™ Rescue Station at 9 a.m. Wednesday at North 1st Street.
The drowning prevention device is the first of 35 that will be located at each beach access point in the city limits of Cocoa Beach.
Late last year, the Cocoa Beach City Commission voted unanimously to install the devices. The site at 1st Street North is a memorial to Fred Hunt, who lost his life saving a Canadian author.
Hunt later received the Carnegie Hero Act Award posthumously for his efforts.
The LIFE™ Rescue Project was conceived in 2015 by former Lifeguard Instructor Mike Rogers and former Brevard County Ocean Rescue Chief Wyatt Werneth.
Combining the redesigned LIFE™ Rescue Tube with the LIFE™ Rescue Station, Rogers and Werneth were focused on making Cocoa Beach the safest beach possible.
“Once we saw the need and enthusiasm for the LIFE™ Rescue Stations, we knew that our mission was to make every beach the safest it could possibly be and we have been focused on drowning prevention ever since,” said Werneth.
Chief Werneth is famous for saying “Always swim near a lifeguard or a LIFE™ Rescue Station.”
According to the CDC, 3,536 unintentional fatal drownings occurred each year, on average, from 2005 to 2014 in the United States.
“In 2007, which became known as the Year of the Drownings, 10 people drowned off the shores of Brevard County, causing Brevard to be named a most dangerous beach by Forbes Magazine,” said Werneth.
“All but three of those drownings happened to people who were trying to save someone.”
After the 10 drownings, Werneth undertook a 10-day paddle board expedition, from Miami to Jacksonville, to raise awareness of the drownings of 2007 and dedicated his odyssey to the ten people that lost their lives.
The city plans to work with the LIFE™ Rescue Project to inform beach goers and vacationers as to the proper purpose and use of the devices. Cocoa Beach was chosen to be the pilot location for the drowning prevention endeavor.
The project will be launched nationwide later this year.
CLICK HERE for more information about the LIFE™ RESCUE PROJECT or call 321-433-3630.
ABOVE VIDEO: The City of Cocoa Beach along with the LIFE™ Rescue Project will be unveiling its first LIFE™ Rescue Station. The drowning prevention device is the first of 35 that will be located at each beach access point in the city limits of Cocoa Beach. Late last year the Cocoa Beach City Commission voted unanimously to install the devices.
