A mother and her newborn were rescued from atop the Barnegat Lighthouse, and a third person was extricated from the towering structure after falling down a flight of stairs and suffered a femur fracture. Fire police diverted foot traffic away from the path toward the lighthouse while an ambulance waited nearby and rescuers discussed who would meet a helicopter  – if the training exercise were a real-time incident.

“Train like it’s real life, and when it’s real, it’s not scary,” said Bob Selfridge, who became a lifeguard in 1981,…