Hawaii County is currently short nine water safety officers out of the 72 needed to fully staff its 17 lifeguard towers spread across 13 beach parks, leaving some of the Big Island's busiest beaches thinly covered heading into the fall. Towers at Onekahakaha, Carlsmith, and Leleiwi in East Hawaii and Spencer and Hapuna's north tower in West Hawaii have ranked among the lowest-staffed in recent months, according to county data.
Hawaii Fire Department Battalion Chief Bradley Young, who oversees the county's Ocean Safety division, told the Fire Commission that applicants are struggling to pass the required physical agility exam, and that the gap between applying and getting hired is costing the department qualified candidates. As reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Young said the delay causes some candidates to simply accept other satisfactory jobs before Ocean Safety can bring them on board. Young is described as taking an aggressive approach to recruiting despite those obstacles, per the same account.
Fire Commission Chairman Gerald Kosaki, a retired Hawaii Fire Department battalion chief, called beach lifeguards the county's true ambassadors because of how directly they deal with the public. Kosaki said ocean safety officers represent the first line of defense at the beach, warning that emergency responders may not arrive until after a drowning beachgoer has already gone underwater, the newspaper's report notes.
Understaffed Towers Force Constant Shuffling
When a tower reports no need for assistance, Ocean Safety shifts personnel to nearby towers with greater demand — moving lifeguards from Hapuna to Spencer or Kua Bay, for instance, based on watchtower app data the division uses to track coverage. Kosaki said Hapuna's north tower had reportedly been staffed only a handful of times over the prior six months to a year. Hapuna, which has three lifeguard towers and was included on Dr. Beach's worldwide top 10 beaches list in 2021, remains one of the county's most visited state park beaches.
The county's other lifeguard posts stretch from Punaluu Black Sand in Kau to Isaac Hale at Pohoiki in Puna, and from Kua Bay, Laaloa and Kahaluu — which has two towers — in Kailua-Kona to Hapuna and Spencer in South Kohala. The Fire Commission took no vote on the staffing item during its August 27 meeting, held in Kona, as members continue weighing how to close the gap.
Drowning Toll Adds Urgency to the Hiring Push
The staffing strain comes as Big Island residents already face the highest drowning mortality rate of any county in Hawaii, according to the Hawaii State Department of Health's Injury Prevention Plan, drawing on 2018–2023 data that shows the rate well above Honolulu County's. Statewide, ocean drownings account for 84% of all fatal drownings in Hawaii, with an average of nearly 83 fatal drownings occurring each year among residents and visitors combined, making it the fifth-leading cause of fatal injury for state residents.
Snorkeling is tied to 27% of all fatal ocean drownings statewide and 42% of ocean drownings among non-resident visitors, the department's data shows, with non-residents accounting for 53% of all drowning victims in Hawaii. Those figures underscore why fully staffed towers at popular snorkeling spots carry outsized stakes for both residents and tourists.
Recruiting Timeline and Pay Gaps
Ocean Safety has scheduled three recruitments through the end of 2026, with one already completed and four candidates identified for hiring from that round. The division has offered applicants additional training alongside pool lifeguards and a second chance to pass the physical agility test, with the next test date set for September 23. Officials have set January 1, 2027, as the tentative target for the last new hires of the cycle, with the division expecting completed recruitment to shrink vacancies down to five positions, and a final recruitment scheduled for November.
Pay may be part of the recruiting challenge. Water safety officers in Hawaii County start at $52,128 a year, compared with roughly $56,000 after probation for officers in Maui County, according to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, which tracks how ocean safety officers statewide are represented under Bargaining Unit 15 of the Hawaii Government Employees Association. County Human Resources Director Sommer Tokihiro has been involved in the hiring effort alongside Young's division.
Governance and Funding Differ Across Islands
Hawaii County continues to run its ocean safety officers as a division within the Hawaii Fire Department, a structure that stands in contrast to Honolulu, which moved to spin Ocean Safety into its own standalone municipal department starting in fiscal year 2026, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. The Hawaii State Senate has also weighed in on the profession's standing statewide: in March 2026 it introduced Senate Resolution 54, urging state and county agencies to formally recognize open-water lifeguards and water safety officers as official first responders, a distinction that highlights the different hazards of open-water rescues compared with pool lifeguarding.
Fiscal friction between the state and county has shaped coverage before. In 2021, Hawaii County had to absorb local funding to keep lifeguards posted at state beach parks including Hapuna and Kua Bay after state lawmakers cut the state's contracted funding in half, according to West Hawaii Today. Operating and staffing a single tower year-round with five full-time officers costs roughly $400,000 annually, per Civil Beat's 2016 analysis, a benchmark that helps explain why local governments cannot guard every popular beach. The county has also leaned on private philanthropy to help equip its responders: the nonprofit Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation has donated more than $30 million in rescue equipment — including jet skis, rescue gear, trucks and helicopters — to the Hawaii Fire Department over the past 27 years, Civil Beat has reported.
Leadership Transition Complicates the Picture
The recruitment push is unfolding alongside a leadership transition at the top of the department. Fire Chief Kazuo Todd died unexpectedly after collapsing at age 45 on December 14, 2025, following 21 years with the department and a stint chairing the Hawaii State Fire Council. The county received 33 applications for the next fire chief, and found 13 applicants met the minimum qualifications, though the candidates' names have not been made public. The Fire Commission has scheduled two special meetings to select Todd's successor, who will take over administrative oversight of the department during the ongoing ocean safety hiring cycle.
