TORRANCE, Calif. — Los Angeles County’s newest beach-area warning system, designed with deaf and hard-of-hearing beachgoers in mind, will run wide-scale tests at its Torrance Beach pilot location later this month.

The Beach Emergency Evacuation Lights System, called “BEELS” by county staff, will undergo testing from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 29, cycling through its messaging. Testing is expected to continue throughout May.

What You Need To Know

  • Starting in late April, and running through May, Los Angeles County will run tests of its BEELS alert system at its Torrance Beach pilot location

  • The BEELS alerts most notably include high-intensity flashing lights to capture the attention of deaf and hard-of-hearing beachgoers, as well as sirens and loudspeaker messages

  • The system was the idea of Randy Dean, an LA County safety officer and father to two hard-of-hearing children

  • If the system is deemed a success, it will expand to all LA County beaches

The BEELS alerts include sirens and high-decibel alerts played over loudspeakers in both English and Spanish, as well as high-intensity LED light pulses intended to get the attention of folks who might not otherwise be able to hear the other alerts.

“It’s like when fire alarms go off,” said LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors spokesperson Nicole Mooradian. “Not only is it loud, but you see the flashing lights.”

The new alert system was thought up by Randy Dean, a Beaches and Harbor safety officer. Dean is the father to two hard-of-hearing children, and as he and his son hung out one day, they wondered how often deaf and hard-of-hearing people went to the beach.

After some research, Dean found it wasn’t often — in large part because that community couldn’t easily hear audible instructions to evacuate beaches.

When he pitched his idea to his colleagues at Beaches and Harbors, Dean took inspiration from another simple system: flashing-light visual alert doorbells installed in homes for people who are hard of hearing. 

Related Stories

The BEELS program was initially approved by LA County in late 2019, and its pilot location was chosen for Torrance Beach. A lifeguard station and two lifeguard towers were dressed in the system’s loudspeakers and strobes.

The system is designed to have multiple settings, for both water-only evacuations and full beach evacuations, like thunderstorm or tsunami warnings.

The BEELS pilot program is expected to be fully online at Torrance Beach by June. If it’s deemed successful, it will continue rolling out across LA County beaches.