Four teenagers had to be rescued from the water in Long Beach near Edwards Boulevard just after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to officials.

Witnesses say they got pulled out by a rip current.

“They call rip currents like treadmills in the water," said John Skudin, beach supervisor the Long Beach lifeguards. “You can keep running, but you’re not going anywhere until you get tired, and then you go down.”

Rip currents are a concern every year during the summer season, but lifeguards say they become even more of an issue when swimmers get too close to the jetties.

“People tend to go right next to the rocks. They go, ‘I can climb up the rocks,’ but the problem is that’s where a lot of our rip currents are - so they get caught in the hole and out they go,” Skudin said.

Often times, that’s when the panic sets in and people start to swim aggressively to get out of it, but Skudin says that’s the worst thing you can do.

“Don’t fight it. Don’t fight it at all. Just ride with it, it doesn’t last forever,” Skudin said. “Float with it and then move to the side and come in where it’s not.”

Long Beach has a full life guard crew on duty everyday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but years ago they saw the need for more and added an emergency response crew to be on duty from 6-8 p.m.

“People do swim. The sun sets about 8 p.m. and they do go in, but like I said, the Long Beach lifeguards did a wonderful job," said Riptides owner Brian Braddish. "They had to take care of it, there was no drowning and that was the positive thing.”

“Hundreds of lives over the last few years,” Skudin said. “We’ve saved hundreds of lives.”

Once they got back on land, the four teenagers were treated by the Long Beach Fire Department and taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Oceanside Hospital in stable condition.

Officials say it’s another reminder to the community not to swim when the lifeguards aren’t around.