A lifeguard who was impaled by a 6-foot umbrella at a New Jersey beach is now recovering in a hospital, according to local officials.
The woman was found wounded on the ground near her lifeguard stand on Asbury Park's 3rd Avenue Beach.
The umbrella pierced her left shoulder and continued through the front of her arm. Approximately one foot of the umbrella's pole had exited her body, Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy told ABC News.
Other lifeguards rushed to her aid and provided assistance until firefighters arrived to stabilize her. Firefighters responding to the call had to cut the umbrella stake in the front in order to better manage her wound, Keddy said.
Paramedics transported the lifeguard to a nearby hospital. She remained awake and alert throughout the ordeal.
“When we dropped her off, she was conscious and alert and in good spirits — all things considered,” Keddy told the The New York Post.
Keddy called the lifeguard a “tough young woman.”
It's unclear exactly how the umbrella ended up lodged in her shoulder. Keddy advised that beachgoers always ensure that their umbrellas are securely driven into the sand and that they carry them with the points facing down.
Beach umbrellas that catch strong winds off the sea can, if improperly secured, be blown at high speeds across beaches.
While most modern beach umbrellas tend to have rounded-off plastic ends on their stakes, some companies do sell metal anchors — intended to help keep umbrellas in-place — that come to a sharp, pointed edge.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an advisory last year about the potential dangers of umbrellas caught in the wind. The agency advised that beachgoers make sure any anchors they purchase include a label confirming it “meets ASTM F3681 for wind speeds up to 30 miles per hour.”
The agency also recommends that beachgoers close their umbrella canopies and re-bury the anchors if they ever become unstable.
