Honolulu’s “First” Ocean Safety Chief Has Big Plans

Honolulu Ocean Safety Chief Kurt Lager, who joined the department in 2005 with scuba, cliff, and swift-water rescue certifications has been the interim Ocean Safety Chief for nearly two years, was sworn into a five-year term this past December.

The city’s Ocean Safety department is nothing new, to be clear, but it is now officially its own standalone department with its own dedicated resources. And among Lager’s big challenges is to decide how to allocate those (finite) lifesaving resources.

Drowning is, after all, the leading cause of death for children in Hawai‘i—the state with the second-highest drowning rate after Alaska.

While Honolulu has no trouble hiring lifeguards, the district struggles with retaining staff. Pay starts at $25.06 per hour, and for most, the ceiling is low.

“We lose people because of all various different reasons,” Lager told Honolulu Civil Beat. Positions with the fire department and EMS and higher education are general reasons that he cites, and understandably: Hawaii is often ranked as the most expensive state for a single adult.

“I’m trying to be responsible with our budget,” Lager continued, “but public safety—you can’t compromise public safety at the same time.”

It should be noted that lifeguards on O‘ahu go above and beyond: They approach beachgoers to ensure they have fins, are comfortable and experienced with large waves, and, Civil Beat reports, even go so far as “paddling out around sunset to let swimmers know their shifts are ending soon.”

Lager joined Honolulu’s Ocean Safety team in 2005, and reflected during an interview with Civil Beat that the Ocean Safety department is “way more proactive now. I think we were a little more reactive when I first started.” He has hopes of elevating the department’s pay scale—all the while acknowledging that the mayor’s office expects the next city budget to be flat.

He’s also hoping to provide more incentives for lifeguards, including mid-level management positions. Honolulu’s lifeguard force has roughly doubled from about 30 to 40 personnel when Lager joined to about 70 now—”It’s a lot more people for a single captain to manage and look after,” he added.

Choosing where and when to allocate resources is another matter on Lager’s mind. In this social-media-driven world, a beach can gain in popularity with little to no notice, leaving gaps in coverage. “In 2023,” Civil Beat writes, “Ocean Safety put up its first new lifeguard tower in over a decade” thanks to a sudden and unforeseen surge in popularity. With a football field’s swim into open water and a swim back to shore against undertow, it brought attention to itself quickly.

Hawai‘i bears a long tradition of holding lifeguards in high esteem, and it’d be a damned shame to see the department lose ground over budget—not to mention an irony impossible to miss when roughly one-quarter of the state’s economy has tourists—many of whom ocean-bathing folk—to thank.

Onward and upward with Hawai‘i’s first responders—and mahalo to each and every one.