2 Water-Related Tragedies Open Pool Season

A 2-year-old boy remained in critical condition Monday evening after he fell into a backyard hot tub in Laguna Niguel on Sunday, in yet another accident involving children and backyard pools. The incident happened the day before Orange County fire officials kicked off their annual pool safety campaign, which is aimed at curtailing the number of drownings, a leading cause of death for Orange County children under 5.

In an unrelated incident, a 13-year-old girl from Daly City died Monday afternoon after she was pulled from the bottom of a pool at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel. The girl, whose name was unavailable, was visiting with her uncle and aunt, said Robyn Butler, an Anaheim Fire Department spokesperson.

The girl had been playing with her 9-year-old cousin and 9-year-old sister while her uncle and aunt were in the hotel room. She was pulled from the bottom of the pool’s deep end by an off-duty firefighter from San Jose, who along with another guest tried to revive her using CPR. Their attempts, along with those of Anaheim police officers and Anaheim firefighters, were unsuccessful.

The girl was transported to Western Medical Center-Anaheim and pronounced dead about 4:30 p.m., Butler said.

In Sunday’s accident, the toddler was last seen inside the house, in the 25000 block of Hampton Drive. Fire officials said it was unclear whether the boy had opened a sliding back door or wandered out an open door.

The boy’s mother, Linda Bertoloti, called for paramedics at 11:27 a.m., after her son had been submerged in the family’s hot tub for at least five minutes, fire officials said. Paramedics were unable to help him start breathing.

By Sunday night, doctors at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo had managed to restore his heartbeat, but they failed to get any neurological response.

“This unfortunate incident shows how important it is for parents and caretakers to take the necessary steps to prevent drownings,” Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Scott Brown said. “There are 108,000 pools in Orange County, and every one of them is a potential drowning machine.”

The home is owned by Bertoloti’s brother and his wife, John and Maryanne Focarino, Orange County sheriff’s deputies said. It was unknown whether Bertoloti was visiting or living with the Focarinos, who have two toddlers of their own, at the time of the accident.

Neither authorities nor neighbors knew whether the hot tub was fenced or covered.

Neighbors were grieving Monday for Bertoloti and the Focarinos. They described the Focarinos as generous to neighbors and attentive to their children.

“They’re terrific people,” said Paul Enghauser. “We recently remodeled our house and John offered to lay the tile.”