By James Windell
On Thursday afternoon on May 28, 2026 at 5:00 pm., a flatbed semitruck showed up at South Beach with two lifeguard watch towers.
Chief Lifeguard David Figueredo arrived on the scene several minutes later trying to figure out how to get a forklift at that hour to unload the semi so the driver could head back to Stuart, Florida.
The South Beach lifeguards have been operating without a conspicuous place to perch since they began patrolling the beach on Memorial Day. City staff had previously indicated that two lifeguards “stands” and two towers had been ordered.
It was on February 16, 2026, when the City Council formally approved the purchase of lifeguard towers and stands during its regular meeting. This approval authorized buying two lifeguard towers and two lifeguard stands as part of launching the city’s new lifeguard program.
At that City Council meeting, the council voted to purchase the equipment from Bausch Enterprises, with total costs reported between $65,200 and $86,200. This purchase followed the city’s November 2025 decision to reinstate lifeguards for the first time in over two decades.
At the time of reinstatement of the lifeguard program, the City Manager emphasized urgency so the towers could be installed before Memorial Day – the traditional start of the tourist season when the beach would be crowded.
Although on Thursday after 5:00 pm no forklifts could be found, the truck driver and two lifeguards found that they could move the lifeguard stands, which are specifically Bausch’s Rescue-T Watch Towers, and maneuver them off the truck and into the parking lot. Figueredo said he knew they had been shipped this week but that he didn’t expect them to arrive so soon.
The relatively lightweight lifeguard watch towers are made of aluminum and are fairly portable so they can be moved around South Beach depending on where the lifeguards want to be stationed to best monitor swimmers on any particular day.
On Friday, Figueredo and his staff were putting canvas covers on the watch towers. And they were moved onto South Beach in the afternoon.
