After Drowning, Seaside Heights To Close Beaches Earlier On Bad Surf Days, Mayor Says

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ — After a man drowned on Monday evening when a group of swimmers got caught in rip currents, Seaside Heights will start closing its beaches earlier to prevent further tragedies, Mayor Anthony Vaz said Tuesday.

In addition, the borough will be posting signs in Spanish about rip currents and telling people to stay out of the water when lifeguards are not present to get the warnings to more people, Vaz said.

A 31-year-old Trenton man died Monday night after he and four other people were pulled from the ocean after getting caught in a rip current, Detective Steve Korman, spokesman for the Seaside Heights Police Department, said Tuesday.

Vaz said the man's name has not been released while they await confirmation from his family about notification of next of kin.

The group had gone into the water after lifeguards were off-duty for the day, authorities said. In Seaside Heights and at most Jersey Shore beaches, lifeguards go off-duty at 5 p.m.

Vaz said the borough closes beach access at 7 p.m. currently. Now, there will be a decision made daily about whether people will be permitted to stay on the beach after 5 p.m., based on ocean conditions.

"On calm days we'll close the gates at normal times," Vaz said. But on days where the surf conditions lead the borough's beach supervisor to keep people out of the water when lifeguards are present, people will be kicked off the beach earlier.

"We're not closing the beach to close the beach," Vaz said. "We just don't want more problems, particularly with the currents we've had this summer."

Vaz said people who refuse to cooperate with police about getting off the beach could face tickets or even arrests, if the situation warrants.

"It sounds punitive but it's not," Vaz said. "It's concern for everyone's safety."

Vaz said the group with the swimmers who had to be rescued on Monday all spoke Spanish, which created some difficulties in the first moments. But he said the Ocean Rescue unit from Seaside Heights Fire Company Station 44 was on the scene in 2 minutes.

"If they were any longer, we would have lost more (swimmers)," Vaz said. "I'm very proud of our water rescue."

Signs in English at every beach entrance warn about rip currents and the dangers of swimming without lifeguards present, and Vaz said the borough will add signs in Spanish "because we find many of our tourists are Spanish-speaking."

This isn't the first time the borough has moved quickly to address issues this summer. In June, within days of a rowdy Memorial Day weekend that saw more than 80 arrests and an estimated 100,000 people in town where officials shut down the boardwalk, the borough introduced ordinances to tighten rules and reduce hours of operation for the boardwalk.

Those ordinances passed and were in placefor the Fourth of July weekend, which Vaz said was much more calm.

"We know we have an obligation and our first obligation is to the safety of the community," Vaz said at the council meeting where the ordinances were approved.