Daylong Event Will Stress Water Safety

Jumping into a swimming pool is a popular way to beat the heat, but parks and recreation officials want to make sure swimmers use caution while keeping cool.

Swimming, lifesaving and first-aid techniques will be demonstrated during Splish Splash Fun Faire ‘99, a daylong water-safety awareness event at all Los Angeles city and county public pools beginning at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Demonstrations will be held at four county pools in the San Fernando, Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and at all 46 city-run pools, organizers said.

During the swimming demonstration, lifeguards will perform four competitive swimming strokes--freestyle, breast stroke, backstroke and butterfly.

Lifeguards will also demonstrate how to pull a struggling swimmer to safety using a pole or towel for assistance.

In the first-aid demonstration, lifeguards will perform mock emergency rescue breathing and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The safety demonstration is a joint project of the Los Angeles city and county recreation and parks departments, American Red Cross and KABC-TV, said John Vowels, city director of lifeguard services.

“We don’t have large numbers of water-related tragedies during the summer,” Vowels said, “but that number is irrelevant to the family who has suffered a loss.”

About 130 drowning deaths occurred in Los Angeles County last year, Vowels said, adding that about half of the victims were children 2 to 4 years old.

With 70 miles of usable coastline, 186,000 backyard pools, 10,000 commercial and public pools and 500 miles of flood-control channels across the county, Vowels urged residents to practice water safety.