Jersey RNLI lifeguards respond to 4,000 incidents in 15 years

Tuesday, 31 March 2026 08:30

The RNLI in Jersey is celebrating 15 years of making the island’s beaches safer.

Since 2011, Jersey RNLI lifeguards have saved 23 lives and aided 4,846 people through rescues, interventions and delivering casualty care.

They have also responded to 4,007 incidents and carried out more than 600,000 preventative actions.

Beach lifeguarding was long established in Jersey before the RNLI service, with lifeguards from all over the world working in Jersey under a service run by the States of Jersey.

In 2011, the RNLI took over, creating a locally-staffed and managed service.

It's been 25 years since RNLI lifeguarding started as a pilot scheme in south west England.

As the charity marks these milestones, its Jersey lifesavers are training ahead of starting patrols for the 2026 season at Le Braye in St Ouen’s Bay for the Easter school holidays.

RNLI lifeguards will begin patrols on Le Braye beach from Thursday 2 April to Sunday 19 April.

Aaron White is one of the lifeguard supervisors for the RNLI. He says they aim to be a 'preventative' service:

"They always say that a good lifeguard is a dry lifeguard, so if our lifeguards can prevent something from happening before it gets serious, prevent people from going in the sea if there is a big rip, for example.

"We encourage them to stop incidents before they even happen."

Between the Easter holidays and the summer season the lifeguards will go schools to do safety talks.