Lifeguard Shortages May Mean 'Swim At Your Own Risk' At Burbank Park

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." 

Parks Commission Hears Complaints Over Pontoosuc Park Shore Access

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:46AM / Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The site visit preceded a meeting of the Parks Commission 

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— A site visit to the south side of Pontoosuc Lake Park on Tuesday turned combative at times as attendees passionately voiced their discontent on renovation work they say limits access to the water.

 

The city planted 1,088 shrubs along the shoreline — service berry, buttonbush, silky dogwood, and nine other species. Some of the two dozen people who attended the site visit complained that the plantings are obstacles to using the shore for swimming, boating and fishing. 

 

"We gotta remember this lake is used by everybody that belongs to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," said Daniel Miraglia. "The biggest area we've had for the public to use. We're taking that away. We're losing our land for open space at an incredible rate."

 

The plantings are part of the redesign and revitalization of the park, a project that was years in planning and is now about 90 percent complete. 

 

The site visit occurred before Tuesday's Parks Commission meeting, and although there were fewer attendees at the meeting, the same concerns were voiced. And the commissioners listened. 

 

They voted to recommend to the Conservation Commission that it consider modifying the current vegetation plan to create additional public access points to the water.

 

The project consisted of 2,268 pieces of vegetation, including river birch, ferns, herbaceous perennials, and the shrubs.