Man dies trying to rescue his dog from the ocean at notorious California beach

A man died Thursday after rushing into the perilous waters of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach fully clothed in an attempt to rescue his dog, authorities said. While the dog made it out of the ocean alive, the man was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Northern California beach is notorious for its strong rip currents, powerful waves and icy water temperatures that have earned it a reputation as California’s deadliest beach.

Thursday’s incident unfolded shortly after 2 p.m. when the San Francisco Fire Department received a call that a man had collapsed in the water at Ocean Beach near Lawton Street after jumping in to try to save a dog. Two women on the beach saw the man struggling and pulled him out of the ocean, fire officials said.

Crews from the National Park Service Ocean Rescue team arrived within two minutes and began performing CPR. Fire personnel took the man to a hospital in critical condition, and he died, authorities said.

The dog made it to the beach independently without serious injury, fire officials said. The man’s identity has not been released, and his official cause of death is pending investigation from the San Francisco medical examiner’s office.

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The San Francisco Fire Department thanked the two bystanders for their heroic efforts but reminded the public that the best thing to do when a human or animal is in need of rescue is to call 911 and allow trained professionals to respond due to the dangerous conditions at the beach.

“This is the largest beach here in San Francisco, and we have had multiple deaths and multiple saves by our members and National Park Service lifeguards because of the fact that there are such strong rip currents,” Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias said.

Between 2014 and 2020, eight people died at the beach, according to surf zone fatality data collected by the National Weather Service.

Kirby Lee, an experienced San Francisco surfer and father of two, was found floating unconscious in the water in November 2023 and put on life support in a hospital where he died four days later.

In July, the San Francisco Fire Department rescued two surfers near Mile Rocks Lighthouse after powerful rip currents pulled them almost a mile out to sea.

Swimming is strongly discouraged at Ocean Beach, as people have been swept out to sea in as little as 3 feet of water, according to the San Francisco Fire Department. People are even cautioned to stay away from the shoreline due to the possibility of “sneaker waves,” which appear seemingly out of nowhere and extend farther up the sand than previous waves.

“Sneaker waves are insidious in nature. They do not present themselves easily like high surf days,” the Fire Department said in a coastal safety warning. “This is what makes them so deadly.”

Despite the dangerous conditions, there are no traditional lifeguards stationed along the 3-mile beach. Instead, Ocean Rescue personnel regularly patrol Ocean Beach to inform visitors about ocean risks and perform rescues when needed.

While the high number of deaths have prompted calls to add lifeguard posts, National Park Service officials have maintained that doing so would provide a false and dangerous impression that Ocean Beach is a swimming beach.