California's open-water lifeguards are the first trained professional on scene when someone is drowning. They respond to cardiac arrests on the sand, trauma injuries, and traffic collisions on the coast highway. They assess, stabilize, and administer lifesaving care, often times prior to fire and medics. 

They are not recognized as first responders.

In 2025 alone, 1 person drowned on a guarded California beach. 61 drowned on unguarded beaches.

Over the past 26 years, California's lifeguards performed 60.7 million preventative actions and 1.13 million rescues, protecting more than 3 billion beach visits. The lifeguard is the variable.

We are asking the California Legislature to pass a concurrent resolution formally recognizing open-water lifeguards as first responders. This ask is consistent with Hawaiʻi, which did exactly this in April 2026 with zero dissenting votes, and with H. Concurrent Res. 1188, which is also advocating for the recognition. This is not a request to create a new category of worker. It is a request that California name what the work already is.

For more information and the full petition, visit lifeguardsasfirstresponders.netlify.app or contact us at califeguardunitycorp@gmail.com