Lifeguard added to Russian River patrol during hot weekend

With temperatures expected to push toward 100 in many parts of the North Bay Area today local residents are expected to flock to area waterways, prompting extra help with patrols along the Russian River.

An additional Sonoma County lifeguard will patrol the river in a Sheriff's Department skiff this weekend.

"It's going to be hot, and it's a holiday. We want to make sure everyone is safe," said Lt. Scott Dunn with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.

The lifeguard is an extra patrol, brought on for the long weekend as high temperatures and the Labor Day holiday draw people to the water.

Deputies regularly patrol beaches from their jet-powered skiff, but lifeguards rarely join the patrols, Dunn said.

"They'll be making sure everybody is behaving and nobody drowns," Dunn said. "We're hoping we don't end up with anything like that."

Four people have drowned in the Russian River this year; the last was 21-year-old Luis Cardenas, whose body was found June 23 in a slow-moving stretch of the Russian River near Guerneville.

-- Laura Norton