By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI‘I KAI — After more than 20 years of service, the orange, wooden lifeguard stands that dot O‘ahu’s beaches are about to be replaced with modern, sand-colored fiberglass towers with tinted windows.
The first of the new towers could be in place within three to six months, said Salvatore Lanzilotti, director of the Honolulu Emergency Services department.
The first area to get the new city-financed towers will be Sandy Beach, a high-use, high-accident zone that is popular for bodysurfing and surfing and has needed an additional tower for months. From there, the city will work west toward Waimanalo, Lanzilotti said.
The new towers will be higher than the old ones and give lifeguards better visibility, while protecting them from the elements.
Some of the new towers will have wraparound decks, and all will have skylights, said Lifeguard Chief Jim Howe. The towers are modeled after one at Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo.
"We’re buying the equipment," Lanzilotti said. "There’s a commitment to replace everything. We want to increase the quality of life for our lifeguards and to boost morale."
In 1999, the city began budgeting for the towers and allotted $200,000, which will pay for five towers. Since that time, city representatives have been scouting different tower styles. Another $200,000 approved last year and available in July will provide an additional five to seven towers. Eventually, the city will replace all 36 towers, Lanzilotti said.
One new tower, donated by surf company Quiksilver, is already in place at Waimea Beach Park.
Lifeguards have told Howe that the Waimea tower is great because it protects them from the rain, wind and sun.
Paint is peeling off the present lifeguard towers, the steel poles are rusting and the towers don’t offer ventilation when it rains, Howe said. That makes it tough for lifeguards, who sit for hours at a time on hard, wooden benches scanning the ocean for swimmers and surfers in trouble, he said.
Sandy Beach also benefited when Quiksilver donated a new tower to Waimea Bay. Last week, the city took the old tower from Waimea and installed it at Sandy Beach.
That pleased Mandy Higa, who goes to Sandy Beach every day. She has written letter upon letter urging the city to put in, even temporarily, a second lifeguard tower at Sandy Beach .
About six months ago one of the steel legs on a tower at Sandy Beach rusted through and the tower was taken down. That left just one tower at Sandy Beach, where at one time there were three, Howe said.
Higa said she knows the dangers of Sandy Beach, the currents, the waves. "You’d be amazed at how safe you feel when you look back toward shore and see that orange," Higa said. "The lifeguards are the real heroes."
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