With the sunset behind him, Vitaliy Kostylov installs wireless communications technology and solar panels on a lifeguard tower at Huntington State Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
For lifeguards keeping watch over much of Huntington Beach’s coastline, recently installed technology is finally bringing them into the 21st century.
In the last few weeks, crews have been installing and testing solar-powered wireless communications for the 28 lifeguard towers at Huntington and Bolsa Chica state beaches.
The new wireless phones replace landline phones in use since the 1970s.
In the old system, each time the lifeguard towers were moved out onto the sand for the prime season, the phone cables connected to them had to be reinstalled and buried under the sand.