Beach Safety Director for the South Walton County Fire District, David Vaughn brought good news with some negative implications for local businesses to the Walton County Tourism Development Council at their last meeting.
The good news: the County’s beaches experienced much calmer waters and had 40% fewer calls for assistance to first responders.
The bad news: overall attendance at the beach was down a little over 10 percent from 2024.
After publication, Tourism Director Matt Algarin contacted us to provide additional context. He told us that attendance was down in the area of South Walton, where the South Walton Fire District provides contracted patrol services at 11 Walton County beach accesses. He noted that the South Walton Fire District also has six additional contracts for beach safety lifeguards at WaterColor, WaterSound, Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, Sandestin and Seaside.
Algarin added that David Vaughn said attendance at the beaches this year was up year over year in all of the areas they are contracted to service.
First responders responsible for beach safety said they experienced two spikes in attendance this year: the Fourth of July and fall break in October.
No one drowned off Walton County beaches in 2025 – making it the second consecutive year without a fatality on Walton beaches.
“Less [sic] people on the beaches and calmer surf waters led to fewer preventative actions,” Vaughn explained to the commission during his report. In all, 344 people still required potentially lifesaving assistance this year, compared to approximately 480 in 2024.
Vaughn noted deaths from drowning contiuned to drop across the Panhandle’s beaches in general.
Though the number of red and double red flags remained low throughout the year – the number of days Walton County beachgoers had to contend with dangerous marine life increased. As of the meeting, purple flags had flown somewhere in Walton County for 90 days straight. Vaughn noted that the number of medical calls related to jellyfish stings jumped up on Walton County’s 26 miles of beaches.
If you are like many in Walton County, you may be wondering where in the world the Green Flags have gone. It is not that all of our beaches have a moderate surf warning (Yellow Flags) most of the time. In fact, if you are looking for the occasional green flag, you will not see one in South Walton anytime soon.
Commissioner Brad Drake, who also serves as the Chairman of the TDC, reflected back on his days as a child and swimming at the beach. He shared that, at that time, if the flag was green, he could swim to his heart’s content. When it was yellow, he was instructed to take caution, and when it was red – well, stay out of the water. He asked Mr. Vaughan about the flags and their meanings and wanted to know why “it is always yellow.” He added, “It’s demoralizing. – Why do we do this?”
Mr. Vaughan appreciated the questions proposed by the Commissioner and said, “We get these questions all the time.” He explained that on our expansive 26 miles of beach, there are times when Miramar Beach might be marked hypothetically as green or yellow, and down the beach (not far), the yellow flag might be needed with moderate conditions. Vaughan stated that “we fly [appropriate color flags] to the conditions that are worse.” He made an argument for the importance of being consistent [throughout all 26 miles of beach], and he also shared that surf conditions can easily change from hour to hour.
Vaughan also stated that the County does not fly the green flag because of the County’s certification process with the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA). Vaughan stated, “The USLA never recommends flying green [the green flag] over an open body of water. [at the beach in South Walton] He added that at 8 a.m., the surf conditions may be “smooth like glass,” but by 10 a.m. the winds off shore can easily change and quickly bring the designation of “moderate surf conditions.”
In summation, the Beach Safety Director told the TDC that, “Yellow is the new baseline [not green.] USLA does not support it [the green flag].” Drake added, “So yellow is the new green…Yellow means cautious and calm.” And Vaughan responded that Beach Safety is using the ‘Florida Statutory” that starts with a moderate level of caution – as a starting point. We start with a moderate level of caution.”
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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