Spa Warnings Reiterated Following Girl’s Drowning

The weekend drowning of a 12-year-old girl whose hair got sucked into the vent of a hot tub has prompted renewed warnings about the dangers of spas, especially the older single intake-type built before the enactment of safety codes.

“I’ve seen several of these [accidents] and every one of them happened in an old-style spa,” Donald Boland, a spokesman for the Huntington Beach Fire Department, said Monday of the drowning of Krista Humphrey. “You remember every one of these; it’s not like a car accident. These are the things that stick in your mind.”

The accident occurred Sunday night at the home of Humphrey’s grandparents on Maui Circle, where she and her parents were visiting from their home in Houston.

The girl was in the spa alone about 8 p.m., Boland said, when her hair was apparently sucked into an intake valve, and she was pulled underwater.

By the time relatives had cut her hair to free her, the fireman said, she had lost consciousness. She later died at a hospital.

The incident closely resembled another in Villa Park just seven months ago that nearly took the life of the 6-year-old son of former Ram player Greg Meisner. In that case, however, Meisner was able to save the boy’s life by wrenching him free of the drain, which left a 10-inch-diameter bruise on the youngster’s back.

The drowning of a 9-year-old boy in 1976 prompted county officials to begin requiring two vents rather than one in all spas built in unincorporated areas. Designing spas with two vents, said Larry Nees, manager of building inspections for Orange County, significantly decreases the amount of suction in each one.

The county also began requiring that vents be covered and constructed in a manner designed to prevent hair or body parts from being pulled in.

Huntington Beach, where Sunday’s drowning occurred, eventually adopted similar standards, said Bill Grove, the city’s inspection manager, but not in time to affect construction of the spa in which Sunday’s accident occurred.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Spa Safety

Here are some precautions to keep in mind if you own a spa:

* Avoid problems with a single drain by installing a second one to disperse suction.

* Install safety dome on flat drains.

* Instruct anyone with long hair not to get it near a drain, and tell anyone who uses your spa not to stick fingers, toes or other body parts into drain.

* Place power switch nearby so it can be reached quickly in case of emergency.

* If your spa is indoors, lock the door to the room or use a cover that locks.

* Closely supervise children, even if they know how to swim.

* If you are concerned about a spa’s safety, check with a building inspector.

* For more information, call the Orange County chapter of the National Spa and Pool Institute, (714) 832-1113.

Sources: National Spa and Pool Institute; Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Los Angeles Times