OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A recent death near an Oceanside jetty is renewing long-standing concerns about water safety and adding urgency to one local man's effort to install life-saving equipment along the city's waterfront.
On Friday, Oct. 30, a boat overturned near the Del Mar Jetty in Oceanside. One person on board was able to swim out of the water and call 911. The other person was found about half an hour later, pulled from the water and taken to a hospital, where they died.
The incident comes as Nigel Woolf, founder of the Public Installation of Emergency Rescue project, or PIER, has been pushing for life preserver rings to be installed at several locations along the Oceanside coast.
Woolf said the idea came to him in March after a 6-year-old girl became caught in a rip current in Oceanside.
"It hit me immediately that there was a real clear answer," Woolf said. "That would have saved and prevented the tragedy that almost happened there. And that is the installation of life rings."
Months later, the proposed life rings have yet to be installed.
Woolf believes having the equipment available near the jetty could potentially make a difference during emergencies like the Oct. 30 boat accident.
"Since one of the people was able to make it to the jetty, if the life rings had been stationed there, clearly they could have easily thrown it to someone if they were within a reasonable distance of, say, up to maybe 50 to 100 feet," Woolf said.
His proposal calls for installing life preserver rings at the Oceanside Pier, harbor, and the north and south jetties. The rings would be attached to ropes and mounted on posts, allowing someone on shore to throw a flotation device to a person in distress without entering the water themselves.
"They use the expression, 'throw, don't go,'" Woolf said. "Because when you go in to rescue someone, the chances of the potential rescuer drowning are extremely high."
Several of the life rings have already been sponsored, according to Woolf, but he said the project continues to face roadblocks.
Still, he is hoping to build momentum for the proposal and prevent future tragedies along Oceanside's coastline.
With new faces entering local government following the election, Woolf said he hopes the PIER project will receive renewed attention and move closer to becoming a reality.
