No plans to close Volusia County beaches for busy holiday weekend

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Volusia County Beach Patrol is preparing for a busy weekend as large crowds are expected with the Fourth of July falling on a Saturday.

After South Florida announced it's closing its beaches for the weekend, Captain Tamra Malphurs said it’s too early to know if that will lead to an influx at Central Florida beaches.

Regardless, they’re preparing for the crowds holidays normally bring.

“It’s too early to tell, you know. This just happened, but we here in Volusia County do expect large crowds. We do expect people to flock to the beaches this weekend. It’s Fourth of July weekend and it’s a tradition,” she said.

FOX 35 News reached out to Volusia County on Monday to see if it was considering closing down or limiting access to the beaches like South Florida did.

“At this time, there are no plans to close Volusia County beaches,” said spokesperson Kevin Captain.

in the meantime, Francisco Duran hit the sand on a Monday to avoid the crowds and plans to stay away during the holiday.

“Pretty risky,” he said. “That’s why I try to avoid the beach on holidays...the big crowds.”

He said he has friends in Miami that plan to make their way this way after the beaches closed.

“Friends over there in Miami, they’re pretty much going to hit Orlando Daytona too,” he said.

Cpt. Malphurs said full-time staff along with part-time staff will be out in force.

“70, 80 part-time lifeguards out there on towers and also part-time people on ATVs patrolling,” she said.

Beach patrol is asking people to social distance and visit less busy access points.

“With Fourth of July comes everything. “We have medical calls. We have water rescues. We have a lot of stuff we have to deal with, so we really need people to be responsible,” she said.