Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi has announced the approval of $1.3 million in additional funding to hire more Honolulu Ocean Safety lifeguards.

The $1.3 million will fund an additional 18 full-time positions to support extended lifeguard services mandated by law, as Ocean Safety gears up for the winter surf season, when hazardous conditions hit Oahu’s north and west shores, city officials said Friday.

“Our Ocean Safety team is a vital component of our city’s first responder team,” Blangiardi said in a news release. “For an island community of more than a million residents, and for one that hosts millions of visitors a year, we have a responsibility and duty to ensure we keep people as safe as possible as they access the shoreline and our beaches. I am pleased to give our Ocean Safety Division a chance to bring in more of the very best watermen and women in the world to staff this vital service.”

This past summer, Ocean Safety extended its operational hours to 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at its 42 towers around Oahu. This extended coverage from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., which is often the busiest time at popular beaches, officials said.

“We are extremely grateful to the Mayor and City Council for this level of support,” said Honolulu Ocean Safety Chief John Titchen in the release. “To see this level of investment in all of our City first responders at HPD, HFD, EMS, and Ocean Safety reassures our team that they can just go out and do the best job they can to keep people safe. These added positions give us significant flexibility to recruit the best lifeguards we can to contd to improve our coverage and to staff our popular Junior Lifeguards Program, which is a crucial part of our public outreach effort.”

Ocean Safety expects to start a recruiting class next month, and to hold a second tryout in January to build another recruiting class in May.

Tryout dates will be posted online at emergencyservices.honolulu.gov.