Word of mouth may not always alert beachgoers of looming thunderstorms, so one Jersey Shore community plans to use sirens with high-end technology to bystanders at the earliest sights of lightning.
A set of lighting-detection sirens is nearly finished being installed in Seaside Park. Their activation comes one week after a man was killed by a lightning strike.
Plans of bringing the innovative system to the municipality, however, date to last year, Seaside Park Beach Patrol Capt. Jim Rankin told NJ Advance Media on Monday. Officials anticipate the devices being activated by early July, he said.
“We always felt good about our protocols,” Rankin said Monday. “We’re just hoping that his new, advanced technology gets us a step ahead, and it gives more opportunities to be proactive and get people off the beach safely.”
The devices are fastened atop wooden posts at O and D streets, as well as Ninth Avenue, covering all of the borough’s roughly mile-and-a-half-long shoreline. Each poll has three sirens, Rankin said.
When activated and a storm is within 10 miles, each siren on the posts sounds for 15 seconds, accompanied by a flashing light. Once a storm is far enough away, the sirens will be used to issue an “all-clear” signal.
A lighting detection siren seen on the beach near Ocean Avenue and O Street in Seaside Park.Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
The devices, Rankin said, can also be found in nearby Ortley Beach. Until the sirens, lifeguards in the borough have spanned the beach on foot and by vehicle to usher people away as quickly as possible.
The system was ordered on April 1, and the local government passed a bond ordinance to purchase the nearly $50,000 system on May 16, Borough Administrator Karen Kroon said. The purchase, she said, was part of the borough’s capital plan for the year.
It’s made by WXLine, which makes lighting-sensing products and is based in Tucson, Arizona, according to the company’s website. It’s been manufacturing detection products since 2001.
At least two vendors were approached last summer, nearly two years after a Berkley Township lifeguard was killed by lighting. The fatality, Kroon said, encouraged locals to ponder new ideas of public safety.
North of Seaside Park, Brick installed a system in 2022, revisiting a long-weighed purchase while influenced by the lifeguard’s death a year earlier. The township spent about $40,000 on the equipment.
“People have talked about it,” Kroon said of Seaside Park acquiring the system.
Lightning strikes involving people remains a rarity, but 21 people have died from the phenomenon between 1996 and 2024, according to data from the National Weather Service. Another 156 injuries have also been documented in that timeframe.
What likely is the most recent case happened in the borough one week ago Tuesday, when a bolt struck 59-year-old Patrick Dispoto, killing him. The Manchester man’s girlfriend told journalists he already abandoned the beach when a set of strong storms arrived, but he returned to warn a group of kids still on the sand.
“When things like this happen, you open your eyes a little bit more to it,” Rankin said. “But, lightning has always kind of been something that we’ve taken seriously.”
Stories by Eric Conklin
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Eric Conklin may be reached at [email protected].