A water rescue in Seaside Park, NJ, Sept. 19, 2024. (Screenshot: Jersey Shore Fire News/Citizen App)
Numerous water rescues, including one in Seaside Park caught on camera by a local drone operator, occurred Thursday amid calls by officials for the public to stay out of the ocean and heed a rip current warning that is in effect into the weekend.
The water rescues were reported up and down the New Jersey coast Thursday, with one incident having garnered significant attention in Seaside Park. There, a photographer who runs the popular Instagram page “Jersey Shore Fire Response” found himself becoming the rescuer, donning a wetsuit and helping a swimmer out of the water. The photographer, Ryan Mack, was eventually helped out of the water himself by fire-rescue crews from Seaside Park and Seaside Heights. He provided an account to The Lakewood Scoop.
“Instinctively, I ran towards the ocean with my life vests and swam out to him,” he told TLS, in an interview published here. “He was foaming at the mouth and barely staying afloat.
Video of other rescues were posted on Mack’s Instagram page and by users of the Citizen App, which are embedded with this story.
A video of a rescue last week shows a similar ocean condition:
Officials up and down the coast are pleading with residents and visitors to stay out of the ocean, and the National Weather Service has issued a rip current warning through 6 p.m. Saturday, with the potential for an extension to be applied.
“Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water,” the advisory statement said. “Swim near a lifeguard. If caught in a rip current, relax and float. Don`t swim against the current. If able, swim in a direction following the shoreline. If unable to escape, face the shore and call or wave for help.”
The NWS’s Surf Zone Forecast calls for a “high” rip current risk with waves in the surf zone mounting to 3-4 feet. The water temperature is in the lower 70s. Likewise, a “high” rip current risk is forecast for Saturday with a similar 3-4 foot swell.
