Code enforcement officers began fining disobedient swimmers last July. That came after a dozen people drowned off the coast of PCB in 2019. A total of 118 people were cited for the offense from then until Oct. 31 of last year, according to information from the city.
Wil Spivey, beach safety director for Panama City Beach Fire Rescue, said Thursday that there have been no confirmed drownings in the Gulf off of PCB so far this year.
However, the body of William Janos, 66, was pulled from the Gulf on April 23 behind the Sterling Breeze Condominiums. A report from the District 14 medical examiner s office lists the man s cause of death as drowning.
PANAMA CITY BEACH Local officials are considering whether to install tornado sirens across the Beach.
During a City Council meeting last week, Chief Ray Morgan of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue presented councilmen with information about warning systems, including where speakers could be mounted, their coverage areas and how much they would cost. Three tornadoes touched down in Bay County just a few days later, two in the Panama City Beach area.
Along with alerting the public about severe weather, Morgan added that the devices could be customized to announce local alerts from the city or Bay County Emergency Services.
PANAMA CITY BEACH Local officials plan to use new unmanned water-rescue vehicles to improve safety along the Gulf of Mexico.
With tourist season approaching, Gulf Coast State College held a joint training exercise on Wednesday with members of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue and its beach safety division to teach first responders how to operate unmanned water rescue vehicles.
Called EMILY short for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard the crafts are equipped with sonar technology, can skim across the water at about 35 mph and are about the size of a small canoe. These devices are not to be seen as a replacement for a lifeguard because they re not, said Wil Spivey, beach safety director for the Beach. They are an additional tool that we have available now to use as part of our program.
PANAMA CITY BEACH Mayor Mark Sheldon wants Panama City Beach to grow and prosper and an infusion of state money could help hasten development this year.
During a City Council meeting Thursday, he and the rest of the council approved a list of items for the city s lobbying team to present to the Florida Legislature in hopes of getting additional funding for future projects. The Legislature s 2021 regular session is scheduled to begin March 2. This agenda is aggressive and we re asking for a lot of things, but we re going to fight hard. It s what we do, Sheldon said. There s a lot of things there, but we ve never wavered from the fact that we need to do road work, (and) we need more expansion of roads.