Children's Safety Zone

Water safety incidents in Phoenix dropped each of the past two years, thanks in part to a concerted effort to educate the community. But a toddler drowned in a backyard pool last week, kick starting the awareness effort once again.

Phoenix firefighters, volunteers and city leaders hit a northeast Phoenix neighborhood Tuesday morning handing out information about drowning prevention.

A 3-year-old boy drowned in a backyard swimming pool Sunday near 64th Street and Camelback Road. The pool did not have a fence and the child, who was not breathing and did not have a pulse when firefighters arrived, was in the water for more than 10 minutes, according to Phoenix Fire Department officials.

Newer homes are required to have barriers around pools. But there is not a requirement in older neighborhoods such as the one where the child drowned Sunday.

It is important for residents to have awareness about how to prevent drownings, said Kelly Lieberman, Phoenix Fire Department spokesman.

Lieberman was among the group that handed out water safety information as part of Tuesday’s W.A.V.E. walk — water, awareness, vigilance, education.

The group reached 565 homes in less than an hour.

Sunday’s incident was the first water-related child fatality this year, after two adult deaths resulted from eight water-related incidents, according to the Phoenix Fire Department.

The total water-related incidents in Phoenix dropped from a five-year high of 86 in 2011 to 69 in 2012 and to 32 last year, according Phoenix Fire Department statistics. Water-related deaths, however, rose from 17 in 2012 to 20 a year ago.

The last Ahwatukee drowning was in August 2012 in a backyard swimming pool.

Swimming pool incidents were by far the top cause of drowning deaths the last year five years, according to the same statistics, followed by bathtubs.

Supervision is always the best preventative, officials say, but teaching a child to swim is valuable as well. Swim lessons are available at the Ahwatukee Community Swim and Tennis Center, the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA and the city’s Pecos Pool, among other places.

For a list of water safety tips, visit the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona’s website, preventdrownings.org.

via First 2014 water-related child fatality kick starts awareness effort – Ahwatukee Foothills News: News.

A 1-year-old boy was alert and crying after he was pulled from a pool by his father early Friday morning.

The boy’s father said he found his son floating in the pool at a residence in the area of 42nd Street and Shea Boulevard about 7:45 a.m., said Phoenix fire Capt. Ruben Saavedra.

He pulled the child from the pool and ran with him to a neighbor’s house for assistance with CPR, Saavedra said.

The father told firefighters the child was in a walker and that he briefly stepped away before finding his son still in the walker and in the pool, Saavedra said.

The pool had a security fence, but the father said the latching device might have failed, Saavedra said.

The child was crying when firefighters arrived, and was taken to a nearby emergency room for evaluation, Saavedra said.

On Thursday, a 2-year-old boy died at a Phoenix hospital after he was found in a pool in Anthem.

No other information was immediately available.

PHOENIX – A two-year-old boy has been taken to the hospital after he was found floating in a pool near 7th Street and Union Hills Drive in north Phoenix Thursday.

An adult female found the submerged boy and began CPR, according to Phoenix Fire Capt. Tony Mure. The child responded but did have labored breathing.

Phoenix Fire paramedics evaluated the boy and transported him to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Mure said.

No further information is available at this time.

LAS VEGAS – Authorities are resuming their search for two missing Las Vegas men a day after the body of a third man who was with them was found in Lake Mead.

National Park Service spokeswoman Christie Vanover says officials are conducting a search on land, sea and in the air Saturday.

Searchers plan to go through 7 miles of land on both sides of the shore.

Authorities say all three men, who were on a multi-day boating trip, were reported missing late Thursday by a family member who said they hadn’t called in for the night.

Their capsized boat was discovered around 11:30 a.m. Friday in the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam.

Vanover says the body of one of the men, whose identity hasn’t been released, was discovered a half-mile away.

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.