A new, temporary lifeguard tower at Greenhills beach was quickly used to effect.
Lifeguards rescued three female swimmers from a rip on the first day the tower was used.
The tower was erected in four hours on Wednesday last week , with its first day of operation on Thursday.
A Sutherland Shire Council spokeswoman said a lifeguard was climbing the tower to relieve a colleague after the first shift when he saw three young female swimmers in trouble.
”The lifeguard went straight to the rescue board to render assistance, noticing the three girls were in the eye of a rip,” she said.
“The second lifeguard immediately followed to assist.
“The lifeguards quickly identified the two swimmers most at risk and pulled them to safety before returning to the water to rescue the third girl with the help of a nearby board rider.”
Mayor Carmelo Pesce congratulated the lifeguards and said it showed the value of the new tower.
However, the council appears to have a dilemma over placing the tower and an emergency call box at the beach because the initiatives could encourage people to swim there when it is unpatrolled.
Cr Pesce said, even with the new safety measures, people should not swim at Greenhills.
“We can’t stress enough that no flags equals no swim,” he said.
Greenhills is also outside the patrol area of Wanda Surf Life Saving Club.
The council, in conjunction with Surf Life Saving NSW, installed tan emergency call box, known as an ERB (emergency response beacon) this month.
Lifeguards take the ERB to the beach and mount it on a post at 7am each day.
