SOLANA BEACH — Fire, law enforcement, and marine safety personnel in Solana Beach shared public safety statistics from 2025, highlighting ongoing community engagement, regional collaboration, and responses to evolving challenges.
Each department provided its end-of-year update on Nov. 19 to the Solana Beach City Council.
The city contracts with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for police services. Capt. Shane Watts of the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station said they have been focused on e-bike safety, curbing DUIs, and proactively working with businesses to prevent burglaries.
Compared to this time last year, Watts said the department has seen an overall 10% decrease in crimes against persons. Specifically, assaults are around the same level as last year, with a total of 19 so far in 2025, the majority of which were between individuals who knew one another, he said.
The city was also hit by three crime series during 2025. This included a suspect who committed three commercial burglaries in July, burglaries at three different air salons in September, and another spree in September that targeted several restaurants and a church.
Watts said the city’s license plate reader cameras, approved in 2023, helped officers make arrests in the first two cases.
“Once again, the LPRs, the license plate readers, were instrumental in us solving those cases,” Watts said.
The department also focused this year on proactive measures to assist the community, including visiting local businesses to check in on them and build connections. He noted that local companies that are burglarized don’t always report it to law enforcement.
Deputy-initiated activity increased by 45% in 2025, and overall calls for service have decreased 8% from last year, Watts said. He also noted that arrests are down by 13% from last year, but there isn’t one identified reason for this change.
So far this year, Solana Beach has recorded 14 more traffic collisions than it did in 2024. From July through October, the city logged 13 crashes involving another vehicle, eight involving a fixed object, three involving a parked car, three involving a bicycle, and one involving a pedestrian.
The North Coastal Sheriff’s Station is also continuing to focus on DUI enforcement, Watts said. DUI arrests increased by 44% this year compared to last year.
“We put together extra enforcement out in the community to deter people one from getting in their vehicle while intoxicated, and also making sure that if they were on our roadways, we were stopping them and taking them to jail,” he said.
When it comes to e-bikes, deputies are continuing to work with local schools and families to share safety information and traffic rules. Council members said this remains an important issue.
Councilmember Dave Zito said he would be interested in seeing data on the number of citations issued to bicyclists to understand better which additional safety policies, if any, should be adopted in the city.
“The more data we get, the more effective we can be as governing members,” Zito said.
Fire Department
Fire Chief Josh Gordon, who oversees fire operations in Solana Beach, Del Mar, and Encinitas, said the Solana Beach Fire Department responded to 2,252 total incidents between January and September of this year.
Of these, 1,103 were incidents in Solana Beach, and 1,149 were mutual aid responses in neighboring communities, including Encinitas, Del Mar, and Rancho Santa Fe.
“We went outside of our city more than we ran calls within our city,” Gordon said. “Solana Beach definitely does a great job of helping everybody else out. We do get some help from our neighbors, but for the most part, we do a lot of that mutual aid outside.”
The majority of calls so far this year were for medical emergencies, around 10% were vehicle accidents, and just 8% were fire incidents. The department also responded to 21 technical rescue incidents and 28 hazardous material incidents.
Solana Beach Fire also maintained an average emergency response time of 7:09, which exceeds the 8-minute standard, Gordon said.
Of the fire incidents they respond to, Gordon said around 80% are caused by lithium-ion batteries, which can be found in electric cars, e-bikes and scooters, laptops, and other electronics.
These fires can pose an additional safety hazard for firefighters due to the release of toxic and combustible materials. Gordon said fire departments in the region are working on strategies to address these fires most effectively.
The fire department is also preparing to transition to a new management model, after the city of Encinitas announced last year its plans to withdraw from a 15-year cooperative fire management services agreement with Solana Beach and Del Mar.
While mutual aid in responding to emergencies will continue among the cities, Encinitas will no longer provide funding or administrative staff to support shared fire services with the other two cities.
Solana Beach is considering other options, including remaining a single-station fire department, forming another cooperative agreement with Del Mar Fire, contracting for management and administrative services with another fire department or entity, or integrating the Solana Beach Fire Department into another existing fire department.
Marine safety
Solana Beach Marine Safety Capt. Greg Uruburu noted that increased staffing levels this year have greatly improved the department’s ability to serve the community and helped it to keep pace with other jurisdictions.
Before this year, the department had just five full-time employees in addition to seasonal and part-time employees. However, the City Council agreed earlier this year to reclassify two part-time lifeguard positions into full-time ocean lifeguards, as well as reclassify one sergeant to a lieutenant position, for a total of seven full-time staff.
“In the past, you had coverage with seasonal staff, and we don’t do that anymore. It allows us to take paternity leave and take vacation. Everything is just more fluid, and staffing and what we’re delivering to the public is just a lot more steady,” Uruburu said. “We’ve caught up to industry standards and benchmarks with neighboring departments, so thank you.”
Increased personnel also allows marine safety officials to participate in regional training, promoting growth and community outreach, Uruburu said.
As of mid-November, the department has been involved in 635 rescues this year, compared to 567 in 2024 and 299 in 2023. Marine Safety also saw an increase in major medical aid incidents this year, but a decrease in minor medical aid incidents, Uruburu said.
This year, the department has seen an increase in abandoned vessel incidents, with six boats making landfall on the Solana Beach shoreline. The Marine Safety Department works with the Coast Guard and other agencies to address these incidents, as well as the appearance of panga boats.
Uruburu also highlighted ongoing and recent projects at local beaches. The 2024 sand replenishment project at Fletcher Cove has continued to have a positive impact, making it easier for lifeguards to monitor what’s going on at the beach, he said.
The department is also finishing work on the Fletcher Cove pedestrian access ramp, with beach access temporarily limited to the city’s southern border with Del Mar.
Work on the proposed reconstruction of the Marine Safety Center is also moving forward. Final designs have been approved, and architect domusstudio and the city’s engineering department are collaborating on a final package to submit to the California Coastal Commission.
Uruburu also highlighted this year’s Junior Lifeguard Program, which had around 1,200 participants over eight weeks, as well as the intern program, which drew around 25 participants in the summer.
Lastly, Uruburu said the department began hosting presentations about local shark behavior, species, and sightings from the SharkLab at CSU Long Beach to educate the public.
The City Council thanked all of the public safety officials for their work.
“Thank you all of you for what you do, taking care of us and our city,” said Mayor Lesa Heebner.
“I know that public safety is important to us all. It’s also the biggest chunk of our budget, so I know our taxpayers are watching and we’ll be watching.”
