Ocean City Fire officials reminding visitors of beach, pool safety head of summer season

OCEAN CITY, Md – The Ocean City Fire Department is reminding visitors and locals how to stay safe on the beach and at the pool as those temperatures heat up.

Ocean City Fire Chief Richard Bowers tells us that those on the beach should keep their feet in the sand until the guard is in the stand.

He is also reminding people to always face the ocean when standing in water, be mindful of what a riptide looks like, and how best to respond if you find yourself caught in it.

“If you come to the beach here in Ocean City swim where there is a lifeguard, and never without one,” he said adding “For a riptide, the first thing you don’t want to do if you get caught in a rip current, is to panic, and one of the other ways that you can get yourself under control is to swim laterally to the beach in a rip current to get out of it.”

He tells me to not attempt to swim into the rip current as that could lead to exhaustion.

He tells us that if swimming parallel is not an option, to tread water in the current which he says will “spit you back out after being taken far out from the water.”

Bowers says they receive many calls for pool safety over children injuring themselves or worse when left unattended.

His advice to parents is to make sure they are keeping an eye on young children at all times and to have flotation devices on hand for children that are not strong swimmers.

He says the hope is by spreading the message will reduce the number of calls they have to respond to this summer.