TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. () — The Fourth of July is one of Tybee Island’s busiest days of the year, and along with its crowds, it also brought a major test for lifeguards.

Tybee Island Ocean Rescue said lifeguards were fully staffed on the holiday weekend, with 24 guards on duty on the Fourth of July. They said that’s the most the team has probably had in years.  Lifeguard Supervisor Cyrus Sheppard told it was much needed.

“We’re going to get a lot of people, a large population, coming to our beach,” Sheppard said. “Also, with that tropical storm being right off the coast, it created hazards in the water that are not normally there throughout the year, unless it’s our hurricane season. But we ended up flying the red flags later in the day to account for that.”

On the Fourth of July, guards responded to 26 water assists,12 rescues, 20 medicals, three requiring EMS transport, three jelly stings and over 2,000 advisements.

Sheppard said it was a day that put their team to the test.

“We had multiple rescues going on at the south end jetty,” he said. “So, just as we were about to get off the beach, there were multiple people that got pushed into the jetties as we were coming off the beach. So, we responded back to 18th Street and sent multiple people in the water to grab them and bring them back and wrap them up, patched them up.”

Sheppard said, “A good amount of people had gotten caught up on those rocks. Immediately after, as we were coming back to relieve ourselves, we had just gotten here to drop supplies off, we got dispatched back to that same spot.”

With the crowds and dangerous conditions, the head of lifeguards said some on staff may have felt they were being pulled in all directions.

“We’ve had issues with staffing, but I think going into the future, staffing is a big one and being able to train those people up to par with our standards is a big thing,” Sheppard said.

is told lifeguards are still being for the 2025 season.