Southern California’s beaches are beautiful, and the sparkling pools are what make California one of the most desirable places in the country to live, work, and play. But with water comes the potential for great danger. Things like unattended tubs and buckets filled with water are often overlooked as drowning dangers. But they are.

The reality is that children, and even adults, can slip under the water silently and without much commotion. Even more frightening, drownings can occur even with a house full of adults and children. We all think someone else is watching…right?

 

Well, Cathedral City Fire Department (CCFD) wants you to know that we care about every citizen and visitor in our city, especially when it comes to water safety.  Nationwide there are an average of ten drownings a day. Listed below are some of the most important steps in ensuring we mitigate this problem collectively.

 

• Never leave children unattended near pools, tubs, buckets or any other body of water. 

• Designate a “Water Watcher” to maintain constant watch over children in the pool during gatherings, and make sure they are sober and undistracted.

• Isolate the pool from the rest of the home by installing a fence at least 60” tall, with a self-closing, self-latching gates. 

• Install window and door alarms to alert adults when opened.  Doors should be self-closing and self-latching.

• Power-operated pool safety covers are most convenient and efficient.  Solar/floating pool covers are definitely not safety devices.

• Keep a phone at poolside so that you never have to leave the pool to answer the phone.

• Learn CPR and rescue breathing.

• Keep life-saving devices near the pool side such as a rescue ring, shepherd’s hook and CPR instructions mounted at poolside.

• Do not use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.

• If a child is missing, always check the pool first.  Seconds count!

• Remove toys from in and around the pool when not in use.

• Don’t use floating chlorine dispensers that look like toys.

• Responsibilities of pool ownership include ensuring children in the home learn to swim, and that adults know CPR.

• Do not consider children “drown-proof” because there is no such thing. Swimming lessons increase safety, but are not a substitute for sound safety guidelines.

 

Firefighters have a special place in their heart for the victims and families of drownings. This is a preventable accident that has profound impacts on the families, community, and the first responders that are called to help. Let’s all do our part to prevent such heart ache.

 

For more information please visit poolsafety.gov.