Swim at your own risk at Long Lake Park this summer because there won’t be lifeguards
Long Lake Park has opened for summer, but don’t expect to see any lifeguards, the city of Lacey announced.
The city has struggled to secure an adequate number of certified lifeguards the past few years, and now the COVID-19 pandemic has made that process even harder.
“The American Red Cross lifeguard certification and ongoing training requirements conflict with current COVID-19 social distancing guidelines,” city of Lacey officials said in a news release. “Due to these circumstances, the city is unable to re-certify their current lifeguards or offer new lifeguards certification until social distancing is relaxed or eliminated.”
The city says water safety information has been posted at the park.
The L-shaped floating dock at the lake was removed last year.
In 2018, the city began to examine the park in the context of some Red Cross safety standards, then took it a step further by hiring an aquatic safety consultant, The Olympian reported.
The consultant raised concerns about the dock. Among them: Diving depths were not uniform — one side was deeper than the other — plus there was a risk that swimmers would get trapped under the dock. There also was the risk of injury to those who like to play on the dock before they jumped into the water, according to The Olympian report.
This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 9:41 AM.
