Fayetteville Today

Staffing shortages at restaurants and retail outlets are no longer news, but with the summer season upon us, people might be surprised to learn that many pools haven't been able to hire a full staff of lifeguards.

Luckily, Fayetteville is one exception. The situation varies from city to city. While Raleigh has only hired about half of the lifeguards it needs, Fayetteville pools are fully staffed.

"It's a pretty popular job in Fayetteville, easy to do during the summer,” Stella Maull, a Fayetteville lifeguard, told ABC 11 News. 

Despite Fayetteville’s success in hiring, the American Lifeguard Association (ALA) said facilities elsewhere might be closed -- or open only for limited schedules -- due to the staffing shortage.

"Many facilities and beaches will have to remain closed this summer, while others will offer shorter opening hours and limited services,” the ALA said, according to ABC 11 News. “In addition, swimming pools will be struggling to stay open through the entire summer for the youth we rely on to staff these positions typically return to school in mid- to late August.”

Maull has been a lifeguard for five years and said the importance of teaching children to swim is one aspect of the job that has kept her coming back.

“It can get dangerous pretty quickly,” she told ABC 11 News.

Having all the Fayetteville pools fully staffed wasn't because of luck, however, but because of hard work. 

"I think the retention of past staff is really key. But I think what also worked well was partnerships,” Fayetteville Corporate Communications Director Jodi Phelps said, according to ABC 11 News.

The ALA cited several reasons for the shortage, with the main one being linked to COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, lifeguard certification courses were canceled, so no new lifeguards could be trained, and existing lifeguards could not renew their certifications.

Fayetteville kept its crop of candidates up-to-date by offering a free certification program with Cumberland County Schools so they can certify CCCS students and encourage them to become lifeguards, Phelps said.

“Really get people interested on the front end so we're not working so hard on the back end to try to get those staff,” she told ABC 11 News.

Fayetteville also accepts lifeguarding applications all year. 

“We know our residents love swimming, we know it's great during the summer, the kids love it. So to be able to provide that and to increase the pool hours is really key for us,” Phelps told ABC 11 News.