 "Photo: Todd Frichtum")
This July 4 was essentially the same as any at the Delaware shore - there were packed bars and nightclubs, unbearable traffic and the constant threat of sunburn. The only major difference was the camera crew capturing it all on film.
What the camera crew was filming is what would become "Surf and Rescue: Dewey Beach," a mini-series that began airing Sept. 8 on TruTV that follows not only the activities of the Dewey Beach Patrol, but also those of the Dewey Beach Police Force as it handled the hectic days surrounding the holiday. Capt. Todd Fritchman of the Dewey Beach Patrol says Independence Day is one of the patrol's busiest times.
Fritchman has been a lifeguard for more than 30 years and has been captain of the beach patrol for 13 years. As captain, he oversees approximately 28 lifeguards that patrol the beach, many of whom are university students.
According to the latest U.S. Census, Dewey Beach has a general population of only 311 people and an area of only 0.3 square miles. According to the show, however, 35,000 people visit the small town over most summer weekends and holidays, according to the show. On Independence Day weekend, those numbers can actually increase to 40,000 - a large number for a town only a little over a mile long.
Regardless of its small size, the show calls Dewey Beach Delaware's utmost "party beach" due to the high concentration of bars and hotels as the beach's main attractions. In the first episode of "Surf and Rescue: Dewey Beach," the usually quiet town is dubbed "the premier party spot for the mid-Atlantic coast," and the show depicts it that way.
The first two episodes of the show feature Dewey Beach Patrol fishing a drunken man out of the water before noon, along with Dewey Beach Police arresting a nurse who had urinated on herself before falling asleep in her car.
Senior Meghan Walter says she is familiar with Dewey's reputation.
"Dewey is ridiculous in the summer," Walter says. "I was working in Rehoboth and all I would hear people talk about is how they were going to Dewey to get trashed. I knew girls that were underage and getting into all the bars."
Being from the Delaware shore, Walter says she didn't find the show too far off from reality.
"I'm not a big drinker so I don't get to experience much of it first-hand, but nothing that I saw surprised me," she says.
Sophomore Louis Sarris says he saw the show and found it over the top at points.
"To me, it felt like a lot of the show was just exaggerated, like they were trying to play up the drama," Sarris says. "It seemed like they were at a loss for interesting material."
Despite the less serious instances of patrolling the town's bar scene and beaches for those who had too much to drink, the same episode of the show also features lifeguards rescuing a raft full of teenage girls who are almost pulled out to sea when winds pick up.
While such helicopter-assisted rescues are exciting and ideal for TV, Fritchman says such duties only comprise a small portion of the beach patrol's responsibilities in the summer.
"For entertainment reasons, the show only focused on two of our core activities - those being ocean and open water rescues," he says.
The patrol also performs searches and attends to first aid emergencies on the beach.
Even though the show portrays Dewey's lifeguards in a heroic fashion with dramatic music, quick camera cuts and a grave-sounding narrator, Fritchman says there was some hesitation to the idea of taking part in the show.
"There were mixed emotions," he says. "Some people were excited to be on camera and saw the experience as positive - others were a bit more reluctant to be filmed."
Despite some initial uneasiness, Fritchman says he feels the show represented his team well, and found the experience generally positive.
"The camera crew wasn't very intrusive," he says. "Them and my staff actually became pretty close over the filming and remain in touch."
Though there are few records of drowning over recent years in Dewey Beach, the Dewey Beach Patrol performs regular open-water assists and rescues - something Fritchman says he feels is important and was glad to see represented accurately in the show.
"I like to think it shows a profound need for beach patrol in the summer months," he says.
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