Waterproofing Arizona's Children

Warm weather is here, and wherever there’s water, you’ll likely find children in it having fun and cooling off. But along with recreation and relief from the heat comes danger from drowning – especially for kids. Ironically, in this predominantly desert state, drowning is the leading cause of death for children under the age of five.

The Phoenix Fire Department’s watchwords are ‘It only takes a few seconds for a child to drown,' and the sad part is nearly every drowning could have been prevented.

While pool fences, locked gates, alarms, and door locks placed out of reach of kids help keep children away from pools, the most important thing you can do to prevent child drownings is to keep an eye on children at all times.

• Kids are amazingly ingenious at getting past safety devices and have unlocked doors and unlatched gates and ended up drowning in pools.

• Keep chairs and tables, ladders etc. away from the pool area. Kids often use them to climb the pool fence.

• Make sure an adult is supervising them at all times. If there is a group of adults, designate one of them as the water watcher

• Make sure they know how to swim. The YMCA offers swimming lessons for a reasonable fee, as do many city pools.

Also, learn CPR and have everyone else in the family learn, too. For CPR and water safety classes the Red Cross Web site, http://www.arizonaredcross.org.

For more tips on keeping safe around the water from the Phoenix Fire Department, visit www.phoenix.gov/fire/watersafe.html.

This summer, enjoy the water and stay cool, but most of all, stay safe.