A day spent at the beach or the bay usually ends for thousands with nothing worse than a sunburn or chapped lips. But it's the constant potential for a far worse outcome that can keep Nassau and Suffolk first responders on edge when the weather gets warm.
On Wednesday, rescue teams from both counties gathered at Nassau's Tobay Beach — sunsplashed but mostly empty of the crowds soon to come — to demonstrate and practice using inflatable flotation devices to rescue distressed swimmers and anyone else who finds themselves bobbing in Long Island waters without a life preserver or much hope for surviving.
The orange devices, known as "rescue sticks" and made of plastic, are about the size of a standard folded umbrella. Similar to the portable ramps used to evacuate passengers from an airplane, the rescue sticks fill with with air in seconds after they hit the water.