Lakeside Fire District | Water & Pool Safety
POOL, SPA, AND JACUZZI SAFETY
BE A "WATER WATCHER"
A Water Watcher is a responsible adult who wears the "Water Watcher" tag and keeps constant visual contact with the pool, spa, or jacuzzi. The Water Watcher provides 100% supervision of children's water activities.
To pick-up a Water Watchers tag, CLICK HERE.
HOME DROWNING PREVENTION TIPS
- Always stay within an arm’s reach of your child when he or she is in or near the bathtub, toilet, pools, spas or buckets. Never leave your child alone or in the care of older children during bath time.
- Once bath time is over, immediately drain the tub.
- Empty all buckets, containers and wading pools immediately after use. Store them upside-down and out of children’s reach.
- Keep toilet lids closed and use toilet seat locks.
- Never leave your child unattended in a tub or around any other body of water, even if he or she knows how to swim.
- Keep doors to bathrooms and laundry rooms closed.
- Children in baby bath seats and rings must be watched every second.
DROWNING PREVENTION FACTS
- Each year, more than 830 children ages 14 and under die as a result of unintentional drowning.
- Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 4 years and children 10 to 14 years. For infants less than 1 year, drowning is the third leading cause of death.
- Home swimming pools are the most common site for a drowning to occur for a child between the ages 1 to 4 years.
- In the summer, between May and August, drowning deaths among children increase 89 percent over the rest of the year.
- The majority of infant (less than 1 year old) drowning deaths happen in bathtubs, buckets or toilets.
- Recreational boating accidents caused 11 drowning deaths in 2004; more than half of the children were not wearing personal flotation devices or life jackets.
- Male children have a drowning rate twice that of female children.
- Four-sided isolation fencing around home pools could prevent 50 percent to 90 percent of childhood drownings and near-drownings. When used properly, door alarms, pool alarms and automatic pool covers, add an extra layer of protection.