WARWICK — City officials are asking the public to heed posted warnings and stay off the long sandbar at Conimicut Point, after four people had to be rescued from the water over the past two days, including a 14-year-old East Providence girl who was seriously injured.

On Sunday, members of the Martinez family, of East Providence, were fighting for their lives in rough tidal waters that surround the sandbar. On Monday, rescue workers were back after a bather ran into trouble while out on the narrow bar.

Tiffany Martinez nearly drowned while struggling to rescue a younger boy who is a friend of the family after they were stranded on the sandbar by a swift changing tide. Carlos Gonzales, husband of Tiffany’s mother, Josephine, tried to save both youngsters, but by the time all three were pulled out of the water by samaritans, Tiffany was unconscious.

She was resuscitated by rescue crews from the Warwick Fire Department but remained in critical condition yesterday in Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence. Sitting outside the hospital Monday night, family members said that the sweet-natured young teen who had gone to Conimicut with her family to celebrate her birthday has sustained brain damage.

On Monday, said Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan, a woman apparently needed rescuing from the choppy water off Conimicut Point after her beach chair blew off the sandbar and she tried to retrieve it. Sullivan said the woman had been helped out of the water when rescue crews arrived and did not require medical attention.

Yesterday, Mayor Scott Avedisian said city officials are looking for more ways to deter people from the sandbar without banning them from the shore.

Visiting the area on Monday, Avedisian pointed to signs bearing warnings such as: Danger! Do Not Walk on Sandbar” and “Fast Moving Tide. Strong Current.”

On Monday he and Chief Sullivan said that rescues from the sandbar at Conimicut are a perennial occurrence as people consistently ignore the warning signs indicating the dangers of the sandbar.

“We’ve had all sorts of problems for years,” Avedisian said. “People want to go out on the sandbar and they don’t realize how quickly the tides change or how strong they are.”

The sandbar is a stony spit of land that curves invitingly from Conimicut Point, stretching about 100 yards into the Bay toward the historic Conimicut Lighthouse.

While the lighthouse was erected to warn ships away from the shallow spot, Avedisian said the sandbar today poses more of a risk to those who approach it from the shore. What most people don’t realize, he said, is how fast and fiercely the tide comes in and how easily they can be cut off from the mainland.

“A few years ago we even had to rescue someone who drove out there in a truck,” he said.

Sullivan noted that the sandbar can be deceiving because it slopes gently into the water from its southern side but has an abrupt drop into deep water on its northern edge.

“We really need people to be aware of the challenging winds and tides,” Sullivan said.

Conimicut Point is the site of a city park and beach as well as the lighthouse. The beach, staffed by lifeguards, is just a curve away from the rocky area that leads to the sandbar.

Frank Bernardo, a local fisherman, said yesterday that people are always getting stranded on the sandbar and it is not uncommon for him to rescue people.

“A couple of years ago I had to pull six people off in one day,” he said. “I also live near here, and when I hear sirens in the summer I usually know what it means.”

bpoliche@projo.com