Hope Floats for Water Safety Officials

The Los Angeles County Fire Department and American Red Cross are warning local residents to be extra safety conscious as they flock to pools, lakes and beaches to escape the searing temperatures in the region.

Lifeguards and rescue workers throughout the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles are warning adults not to overexert themselves in the hot summer sun, and to avoid alcohol--a deadly ingredient in many boating and personal watercraft accidents.

“We’re going to have more children, and even adults, around the water now, so we know there’s naturally going to be an increased potential for drownings or near drownings,” said Capt. Steve Valenzuela, the Fire Department’s point man on water safety programs. “Remember, it only takes a few seconds for an unsupervised child to drown.”

So far this year, there have been 58 drownings in the county, on pace with the 117 recorded in 1997--a three-year high, said Jeff Johnson, an epidemiology analyst with the county’s Injury and Violence Prevention Program.

For the most part, young children tend to drown in swimming pools, spas or bathtubs. Most young adults die in the ocean, and exhaustion or alcohol are usually factors. Drownings among the elderly often are linked to health problems, such as heart attacks or strokes, or suicide, Johnson said.

“Kids are our main focus, because those deaths are truly unintentional and the most easily preventable,” Johnson said.

Since 1995, when the county launched the Water Awareness Training for Children in the Home Program, fire officials have worked to make parents aware of how easily drownings can occur if children are left unsupervised, even for a few moments. Dozens of children drown every year in pools that have all the proper safety fences and pool alarms.

“Supervision, the lack of supervision, is the No. 1 reason kids drown,” Valenzuela said. “The phone rings, the door is slightly ajar, a kid sees a ball in the pool, and the next thing you know, he jumps in and can’t get out.”

That’s very close to what happened to Carlos Medina, a 5-year-old who drowned in Lynwood a week ago. The boy’s mother said she and her husband went next door to make a phone call and didn’t realize the pool gates were open. Twenty minutes later, a neighbor heard children screaming for help.

John Vowels, aquatic director in charge of all city pools in the Valley, recommends that homeowners keep a cordless phone poolside at all times. Parents also should never let a child who is under 14 or is not a good swimmer in the water unsupervised, even if the child is wearing flotation devices, he said.

“Parents have to be diligent--100%, at all times--when children are in the pool, the bathtub, whenever they’re around a body of water,” Vowels said.

In 1992, the city adopted a law requiring all new pools and spas to be enclosed by either a barrier fence, in addition to a property fence, or to have an alarm leading directly from the water to the interior of the house.

Three years ago, the county Board of Supervisors adopted a similar measure requiring all new pools in unincorporated areas to be enclosed by barrier fences, with bars no more than four inches apart and self-closing, self-latching gates.

Gareth Burk, chief lifeguard at a city pool on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge, said he needs three to five lifeguards on duty at all times to watch the churning hordes of kids who flock there every day.

“There is no excuse if something happens,” said Burk, a middle school gym teacher who has worked as a city lifeguard for 13 years. “We run rescue drills about three times a week just to keep everybody sharp.”

Bette Fernandes, 45, of Northridge is one of the many parents thankful for Burk’s extra caution.

On Friday, her 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter were cooling off in the pool, taking swimming lessons, as she watched calmly from the shade.

She wants her children to be safe around the water, which is the reason she has been taking them to the pool for lessons every summer.

“The people who work here are great,” Fernandes said. “It’s hard to picture . . . a safer place to swim.”

For residents who turn to lakes, the hazards can involve miscalculations and obstacles.

At Pyramid Lake last Wednesday, Jason Diaz, 17, of Benson, Ariz., drowned after swimming to a buoy line 60 feet offshore and then tiring as he attempted to make it back.

At the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, most lifeguard rescues involve adult swimmers who don’t realize their own limits and end up exhausted and floundering offshore, said Mike Coash, aquatics manager.

Another of the biggest dangers on the water are inexperienced personal watercraft operators. The crafts can weigh more than 200 pounds and travel at speeds of 50 mph.

“People out there treat them like toys, like a joy ride,” Coash said. “Two weeks ago, a guy ended up with a severe head injury. He was just messing around with a friend, on another craft, and ended up in the hospital for a week.”

Coash said boating accidents often involve alcohol use, even though alcohol is banned at the park.

“Most people don’t overindulge,” he said. “It’s the people who sit here all day in the hot sun, downing as many beers as they can, who cause all the problems.”