An agreement passed by Santa Rosa County Commissioners on Thursday will give Navarre Beach Fire Rescue control of beach safety on Navarre Beach.
For decades, beach safety lifeguards have been managed by the county's Navarre Beach Department and were a separate division under the direction of Utilities Supervisor Terry Wallace.
But Navarre Beach Fire Rescue Chief Danny Fureigh has been increasingly vocal about his desire for the fire department to run the lifeguard program, arguing that firefighters and lifeguards work hand in hand on a daily basis on the beach and merging the two programs would save lives.
"The fire department responds to every water-related emergency anyways, so if we have two different agencies that don't train together and don't operate the same protocols, it's not a good thing," Fureigh told the News Journal on Thursday.