The Review

Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: Mosaic

Media Credit: Todd Frichtum "Surf and Rescue: Dewey Beach" was filmed during the summer months.

This July 4 was essentially the same as any at the Delaware shore - there were packed bars and nightclubs, unbearable traffic and the constant threat of sunburn. The only major difference was the camera crew capturing it all on film.

What the camera crew was filming is what would become "Surf and Rescue: Dewey Beach," a mini-series that began airing Sept. 8 on TruTV that follows not only the activities of the Dewey Beach Patrol, but also those of the Dewey Beach Police Force as it handled the hectic days surrounding the holiday.
Capt. Todd Fritchman of the Dewey Beach Patrol says Independence Day is one of the patrol's busiest times.

Fritchman has been a lifeguard for more than 30 years and has been captain of the beach patrol for 13 years. As captain, he oversees approximately 28 lifeguards that patrol the beach, many of whom are university students.

According to the latest U.S. Census, Dewey Beach has a general population of only 311 people and an area of only 0.3 square miles. According to the show, however, 35,000 people visit the small town over most summer weekends and holidays, according to the show. On Independence Day weekend, those numbers can actually increase to 40,000 - a large number for a town only a little over a mile long.

Regardless of its small size, the show calls Dewey Beach Delaware's utmost "party beach" due to the high concentration of bars and hotels as the beach's main attractions. In the first episode of "Surf and Rescue: Dewey Beach," the usually quiet town is dubbed "the premier party spot for the mid-Atlantic coast," and the show depicts it that way.

The first two episodes of the show feature Dewey Beach Patrol fishing a drunken man out of the water before noon, along with Dewey Beach Police arresting a nurse who had urinated on herself before falling asleep in her car.

Senior Meghan Walter says she is familiar with Dewey's reputation.

"Dewey is ridiculous in the summer," Walter says. "I was working in Rehoboth and all I would hear people talk about is how they were going to Dewey to get trashed. I knew girls that were underage and getting into all the bars."

Being from the Delaware shore, Walter says she didn't find the show too far off from reality.

Continued...

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