Children's Safety Zone

Firefighters and volunteers will walk southeast Glendale neighborhoods Saturday, hoping to find families who might benefit from a free pool fence.

Firefighters say a fence can be the difference between life and death for a child who wanders near a pool.

The walk is expected to be the first of a handful of water safety and Adopt-a-Pool-Fence events in the West Valley this season.

Additional Phoenix area pool-fence walks are likely to be scheduled in coming weeks, said Carmen Ronan of the Valley of the Sun United Way, which co-sponsors the walks.

Last year, grant funding helped the Adopt-a-Pool Fence team install more than 120 pool fences at Valley homes, Ronan said.

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Glendale firefighters and volunteers will walk neighborhoods between 69th and 75th avenues from Ocotillo Road to Maryland Avenue.

The volunteers will seek families with financial need and children ages 6 or younger living with them. Special circumstances may be considered.

Interested in being a volunteer? Volunteers are asked to meet at 8:30 a.m. Saturday for an orientation at Glendale Fire Station 152 at 69th Avenue and Bethany Home Road.

Don’t live in the area? Call 602-631-4843 or visit the United Phoenix Firefighters Association’s water-safety website, saverkids.org, to apply for a free pool fence or get more information about the program.

A 2-year-old Queen Creek boy is in extremely critical conditionafter his parents found him in a play pool in their front yardMonday.

Rural Metro Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mark Cichocki saidthe boy’s parents left him unsupervised for approximately fiveminutes before finding him and pulling him from the pool in the25400 block of South Hawes Road.

The parents began CPR with guidance from 911 operators.Paramedics took over treatment when they arrived and transportedthe boy to Gilbert Hospital.

Medical personnel at Gilbert Hospital were able to stabilize theboy enough that they could transport him by helicopter to Cardon’sChildren’s Medical Center in Mesa. He is still in criticalcondition.

Check back for updates as they become available.

A 12-year-old boy was expected to recover after nearly drowning Wednesday night in the pool at the Southwest Valley Family YMCA in Goodyear, authorities said.

The boy was swimming in the lap pool with a friend about 8:30 p.m. when he lost consciousness, Goodyear fire spokesman Russ Braden said. His friend called for help and a bystander and on-duty lifeguard pulled the boy from the water.

He was unconscious but began spitting up water after the lifeguard performed CPR and other life-saving measures, Braden said. He was conscious and talking by the time firefighters arrived two minutes after receiving the call.

The boy was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital as a precaution, he said.

Braden said people should never hesitate to call 911 if something happens, even if the child seems OK.

“They will go from looking pretty good to looking bad within minutes, so that’s why with kids we always (advise) to take them in,” he said.

It was unclear why the boy lost consciousness, Braden said.

A statement released by the Ed Hendricks, executive vice president of Valley of the Sun YMCA, on Thursday said, “We are proud of our lifeguards and staff who responded to the emergency situation, administered care and supported the family. Safety is our number one priority.”

Most of the time when we report on drownings and near drownings, it’s because a child somehow found their way into a pool.

But on Monday, paramedics were called to a home in Mesa after a child nearly drowned in the home’s bathroom – not in the bathtub though. The little girl fell into the toilet.

The Mesa Fire Department and Cardon Children’s Hospital are using this case as a chance to remind people to take a look around their home and see if there’s something you could be doing to make your child safer.

A hospital is the very last place anyone wants to have to rush to, but a frantic father found himself there with his daughter.

“It doesn’t all come back to swimming pools and canals..again it can be a bucket of water and a toilet,” said Mesa Fire Dept. Captain Forrest Smith.

The little girl is okay, but it’s a reminder to all of us, especially parents, that your house can be a danger zone in ways you never imagined.

On Monday morning in Mesa, the toilet turned out to be danger to a 1-year-old found face first in the toilet bowl.

“With the little kids their heads are huge..they’re so heavy their neck muscles are weak, so once a kid gets his head down, they can’t get back up,” said Smith.

A popular way of childproofing is to for people to get on their hands and knees and crawl through their homes, giving them a child’s eye view. You may see dangers down there you would otherwise miss.

“Watch Your Children Around Water” – it’s a lesson FOX 10’s Dave Munsey has been repeating for years. Take a look at this video as he explains how it can happen in things like buckets and toilets.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — A 16-month-old girl is in the hospital fighting for her life tonight after she was found floating in a backyard pool.DanielValenzuela with Glendale Fire told CBS 5 news three adults were in thehome watching a movie when they lost track of the 16-month-old. Theyfound her 10 minutes later floating in the backyard pool.Two other children were in the home as well.The toddler was taken to Banner Thunderbird Hospital.