Children's Safety Zone

Authorities have identified an Arizona Department of Transportation employee who was found dead in a canal last week in Chandler .Joseph Favazzo, spokesman for the Chandler Police Department, said 57-year-old Ronald Griffin was found dead Friday, Jan. 31, in a runoff canal by colleagues near Hamilton Street and Willis Road.Police said the worker’s death is not considered to be suspicious. However, authorities are waiting for the official cause of death from the Medical Examiner’s Officer as Griffin was alone at the time.Employees discovered Griffin’s body around 3 p.m. Friday. He was cleaning out an area of a runoff canal near the San Tan Freeway.The investigation is on-going and no other details were released.

via Police release identity of ADOT worker found dead in Chandler runoff canal – ABC15 Arizona.

A 2-year-old girl was released from the hospital Monday after nearly drowning in a septic tank on Sunday, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s just overwhelming that she’s perfect and I get to hold her and be with her more,” said the child’s mother Emily Howard. “I’m amazed and I love her and I’m never letting her out of my sight again, ever.”

It was reported on the 49300 block of West Papago Road, near the city of Maricopa.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Tim Gaffney said the tank had a plastic cover but it apparently collapsed when the child stepped on it.

“She was right in front of me when she fell, but I dropped to my knees and tried to grab her,” said Howard. “The water was too deep to reach where she was in the bottom, and I started screaming ‘she fell, she fell, somebody please get her out.'”

She was pulled from the tank and given CPR.

Jeff Vaughn thought he would be spending the day selling some of his crafts in Maricopa. He had no idea he would end up helping rescue a child from such a terrifying situation.

“All of the sudden someone said a little girl fell down the well,” said Vaughn.

Vaughn, who is a grandfather, said he ran toward the child’s scream and dove head first into the narrow opening and grabbed the little girl out of the tank.

At the same time, another man held onto Vaughn’s ankles and together they pulled the child out of the septic tank that was filled with raw sewage.

The child wasn’t breathing, according to Vaughn. It was then that a woman ran over and began giving the child CPR.

“After doing CPR for awhile, she started crying and that was the best thing to hear,” said Vaughn.

Paramedics transported her to Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa.

Her condition is unknown, but Gaffney said she was crying on the way to the hospital.

There is a concern about infection because of the exposure to raw sewage.

A 2-year-old girl went under water at a pool in Peoria over the Labor Day weekend and a neighbor is being credited for helping save her.

Peoria police spokeswoman Amanda Jacinto said a call came in early Monday night that a 2-year-old had been under the water in the pool for an unknown amount of time at a home near 79th Avenue and Greenway Road.

A neighbor performed CPR and the girl was breathing by the time emergency crews arrived.

She was conscious and crying when she was taken to an area hospital.

The pool looks so inviting, especially when it’s so hot outside. But it can also be deadly for our kids.

That’s why SWIMkids USA is helping keep your family safe

Starting now through Monday, September 2, they are giving away water safety bags to make sure you have eyes on the water for the weekend.

These bags include a wrist coil with a whistle so adults can signal for help in case of an emergency.

There are also several fliers to help with drowning prevention and CPR, and a coupon good for one month of parent-tot lessons.

They only have 200 bags to give away and they will have them on hand until Monday.

Even more, SWIMkids USA offers free swim lessons for infants from newborns to six months on a regular basis.

It’s a half hour parent-tot class that is held Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m.

So get out and enjoy the water this Labor Day weekend, but make sure everyone is safe.

2725 W Guadalupe Rd  Mesa, AZ 85202
480-820-9109

We’ve had 23 water-related accidents in Phoenix this year. Police and firefighters all around the valley want to bring that number down “ﾓ including in Tempe.

They’re using the child’s point of view to demonstrate just how easy it is for them to fall into a pool.

The perspective we see in this public service announcement is very different from others. It’s that of a child, drowning. A very grim reminder to parents that eye to eye contact around water is the difference between life and death.

The video is dramatic, the struggle obvious. A young child fighting to stay afloat, battling for her last breath. She doesn’t stand a chance.

“It was really fast it looked like she struggled for a little bit and then that was it.”

Parents we showed the video to were awestruck by the severity of the message, and surprised by how quickly a drowning can happen even when adults are around.

“We came up with this concept of our camera man actually going underwater, being the child,” says Sue Taeffe, spokesperson for Tempe Fire.

Taeffe says the PSA is all about eye to eye supervisions — a reminder that vigilance — watching your kids around water is the only way to prevent a drowning.

“We were thinking about how quiet a drowning can be, you know, you can be inside, even outside, maybe on the other side of your yard and the next thing you know your child is in the pool.”

This staged video is a minute long, the same amount of time it can take a young child to drown. Whether it’s a pool, the bathtub or toilet, it can happen anywhere any time of year.

“Accidents happen everywhere and so that video is pretty intense.”
FOX 10 News | myfoxphoenix.com