Nearly a dozen drownings were reported along Northwest Florida’s beaches last month -- some from rip currents and some from an uptick in heat exhaustion as temperatures soar.
With the very real dangers at the beach, it’s understandable that first responders would be seeing red over the theft of warning flags meant to keep beachgoers safe.
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“Fifty-two flags have been stolen this year,” said Austin Turnbull, Beach Safety Division Chief for Navarre Beach Fire Rescue. “Just the other day this flag over here on the main beach disappeared. About 11 o’clock, 11 in the morning, we threw up a red flag, and I turned around about noon and it was gone.”
The warning flags are designed to alert people to water conditions in the Gulf, and Turnbull said the thefts are causing safety issues, especially in the wake of 11 people drowning in Gulf waters along the Florida and Alabama coasts since June 1.
“The double red flags, the one with the no swimming, seems like a good souvenir piece for some reason and those go missing pretty often,” Turnbull said.
Double red flags warn people to stay out of the water.
Other rescue squads are reporting similar thefts on their beaches.
The cost to replace them is running into the thousands.
Turnbull is now asking the Santa Rosa County Commission to approve new, taller flag poles to prevent future thefts.
He hopes to install 30-foot poles to replace the current 10-foot poles.
“It’s going to be a lot more visual. We would go from a 2-foot by 3-foot flag to a 3-foot by 5-foot flag, so your visibility would be a lot further so we don’t have to have them as close as we do on every single walkover,” Turnbull said.
The Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office is looking for the souvenir hunters who keep stealing the flags.