Earlier this month, it happened again.
Twice on the same day.
On July 2, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy nearly drowned with parents nearby, said Capt. Trish Tracy, a Tucson Fire Department spokeswoman.
Last year in Pima County, there were 12 near-drownings. So far this year, there have been six such incidents. All involved children under age 12.
In 2010, the county had one drowning fatality. This year, there already have been three, Tracy said.
A couple of weeks ago, members of a Tucson family were walking back from a pool party at their south-side apartment complex when their 2-year-old son decided to return to the fun. The toddler got back into the pool area and fell into the spa - the gate had been propped open with a rock, Tracy said.
People are also reading…
People at the pool quickly retrieved the boy, saving him before it was too late.
"They saw him fall in and they ran over there, but he was in there for about a minute before they realized, 'Oh my God, that kid just fell in the Jacuzzi,' " Tracy said.
By the time paramedics got there, CPR had been administered and the boy was breathing on his own.
In Pima County, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for children, after motor vehicle crashes, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services .
"Most drownings occur with the 2-year-old male, and they often occur when one of the parents is home," Tracy said. "People think, 'Oh, I'll hear them splash in the water,' but really, drowning is a silent killer - you don't hear any noise, there's no crying, there's no splashing, and we're trying to get that message out.
"It seems like the more often we are able to reinforce the message without having to wait until something bad happens, the more safe our children are in our community."
Rules and Regulations
A body of water that contains at least 24 inches of water is considered to be a swimming pool - this applies for all in-ground, aboveground and on-ground pools and spas, according to the International Building Code of 2006.
Pools are required to have an enclosing fence that's at least 4 feet tall, with vertical spacings of no more than 4 inches.
Tucson Fire officials agree with the vertical spacing dimensions but say that gates should be at least 5 feet high, Tracy said.
While a self-closing gate is an important and valuable safety measure, it's useless if it doesn't work properly or if it is propped open.
On June 13, 2-year-old Olivia Kopas died at Tucson Medical Center after falling in the water at a Foothills pool party, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman.
Olivia, daughter of pediatrician Brice Kopas and Rebecca Kopas, who is also a doctor, was at a family friend's party with her parents and two sisters. People left the pool area to eat and lost track of Olivia for roughly two to seven minutes, Barkman said.
When they found her floating in the spa, her father immediately began to perform CPR, Barkman said. The pool and spa were gated, but the latch was defective.
"Apparently when they opened the gate, the gate spring on it didn't allow the gate to close on itself - there wasn't enough tension - and it wouldn't actually close unless you physically pushed it shut," Barkman said.
Brice Kopas, contacted at his office, said he was not yet ready to talk about his family's ordeal.
Pool safety
Olivia's story not only underlines the importance of a properly working gate but also the necessity of having adult supervision at all times.
Constant supervision is an important, constantly preached prevention tip. Some more recent suggestions include: keeping a phone by the pool at all times, removing all toys from the pool when done and making sure the pool gate isn't climbable.
"If you leave the toys in the pool area, the children are going to want to go in and get them, so remove the toys from the pool area," Tracy said. "And make sure the perimeter fencing doesn't have any climbable items on the outside of it.
"So you remove the temptation for them wanting to go out there, and then you remove the items that are going to make it easy for them to get in there."
As for the nearby phone, many drowning incidents occur when the adult supervisor leaves to answer a call, Tracy said.
And, of course, swimming lessons are an excellent precaution.
"We recommend people check with the child's pediatrician if it's OK, because each child is different, but children can start swim lessons when they're very young," Tracy said. "My baby's 17 months old, and he's in swim lessons right now - he's obsessed with the water."
drownings and near-drownings
2009
16 near-drownings
7 drownings
2010
12 near-drownings
1 drowning
2011 (to date)
6 near-drownings
3 drownings
Source: Tucson Fire Department
Rent a lifeguard
Hosting an upcoming pool party?
The city of Tucson Parks and Recreation Aquatics program offers a lifeguard-rental service, said Billy Sassi, the aquatics program manager.
If interested, Sassi emphasized the importance of calling a couple of weeks prior to a party. Prices range from $15 to $20 an hour, and depending on the location, there may be additional charges for gas.
For more information, or to rent a lifeguard, call 791-4245.
Kelly Hultgren is a University of Arizona journalism student who is apprenticing at the Star. Contact her at starapprentice@azstarnet.com
