PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There may be no lifeguards at Onota Lake's Burbank Park this year due to a lack of applicants. 

"It's been increasingly challenging with each passing year to attract lifeguards. In the past number of years, we've really tried to step up how we seek applicants. We've been reaching out to partner organizations. We've done it all. We've offered to pay for lifeguard certification courses. We just have not seen the applicants come through," Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath told the Parks Commission on Tuesday. 

"This year was especially dire." 

With only a couple of potential hires, the city will soon decide if the public beach at Onota Lake will be "Swim At Your Own Risk" this season.  McGrath said the job posting can be kept open for a little while longer, but stressed that there has to be a point where the community is notified that there won't be any lifeguard hours this year. 

This would be the first time in years. 

In 2022, an 8-year-old girl was found unresponsive at the Burbank Park public beach and later passed away, and last year, a Herberg Middle School student drowned at Benedict Pond in Great Barrington. 

"This is top of mind. Waterfront safety is top of mind, and this does not feel good when we're trying to promote water safety," McGrath said. 

"We're ready to jump in the proverbial deep end to try to figure out how we can make it as safe as possible at the lake. So I just wanted to give you a heads up, it would certainly be before your next meeting that we would have to really pull the trigger on this."