BARNSTABLE – Water and sun safety will be front and center in Barnstable Village Thursday.
The Barnstable Fire Department, Barnstable Harbormaster and Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment will team up to provide information on water sports and sun protection at the Water and Sun Safety Day at the Barnstable Fire Department in Barnstable Village from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
County Public Health Nurse Deirdre Arvidson will be on hand to provide sun safety tips for the public.
“We’ll have some brochures on sun safety tips, treating a sun burn, what to look for on your skin for skin cancers,” Arvidson said. “Just basic information that can be helpful to have a safe and fun summer.”
Arvidson said that the number one common sense sun safety tip is to use sunscreen.
“One of the most important things people need to know is that they need to reapply it every two hours,” she said. “Most people forget that. It’s highly important because the sun will degrade the sunscreens.”
Barnstable Fire Chief Frank Pulsifer is one of the event’s organizers and said people should be safe before getting out on the water.
“What we are looking to do is sort of raise awareness on some safety issues relating to water sports, specifically kayaks and stand-up-paddle-boards and those sorts of things,” he said.
Pulsifer stressed the importance of water safety.
“One of the challenges on Cape Cod is that we are surrounded by water and people enjoy that a lot with swimming and other recreational activities,” he said. “We just want to make sure that people are aware of the safety tips that are available to them.”
The event will include resources, safety equipment displays, question and answer sessions and raffle prizes and is free to the public.
