Check the flags before you go swimming in the Gulf

The South Gulf County Volunteer Fire Chief was rescued on Friday while trying to save swimmers from rip currents at the State Park in Cape San Blas.

According to the Gulf County Sheriff's Office facebook page, Chief Nick Vacco responded to a page of people in distress in the water so he went in to help, but got stuck himself.

During the water rescue, Chief Vacco got caught in the rip current and had to be rescued by bystanders.

 He was rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. Chief Vacco was placed in the Intensive Care Unit in stable condition.

If you are swimming along our coast it is important to know what flags are flying – a yellow or red flag means stay out of the water unless you are a strong swimmer.

A rip tide happens when a sand bar breaks causing a strong surface current that can pull swimmers hundreds of yards off-shore.

The current doesn’t pull people down – it pulls them away from the beach, so most deaths associated with rip currents occur when people panic and try to swim directly toward shore against the current.

They usually become totally exhausted and drown.

Since rip currents are normally only about 10 to 30 yards wide, if you find yourself caught in one, the best escape, especially for the weak or non-swimmer, is to wade or swim sideways across the current, parallel to the beach.

Rip currents tend to extend on average from 50 to 200 yards offshore, so another way to make it out alive is to float with the current out beyond the breakers where the rip current will weaken, then swim shoreward at an angle away from it.

And if you can’t see the beach flags from where you’re swimming then download the The Florida Park Service Pocket Ranger app for smartphones.

The app translates Florida’s beach flag colors and provides a “Good to Know” button that links to NOAA’s surf zone forecast and rip current information.

The Florida State Parks Pocket Ranger app is available on iTunes and at the Android Market by searching “Official Florida State Parks”.

http://live.oysterradio.com/