Children's Safety Zone

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.

We’ve learned that a young boy who was found floating in a Glendale swimming pool did not survive.

Police say there were adults and other children around, but a babysitter and her boyfriend lost track of the child and when they found him, it was too late.

The 3-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a valley hospital Saturday night. Police say he was underwater for 30 seconds to two minutes before someone found him.

“Never at any point did any of us notice that that little boy went in.” Veronica Navarro called 9-1-1. “Emergency was telling me pick up his head and just try to give him CPR..try and pound on his chest.”

Sadly, the toddler didn’t make it.

There have been three incidents in Glendale in the past two weeks.

On May 2, an infant died after falling into a pool on West Claremont. On Wednesday, 15-year-old Jesse Prado was pulled out of a swimming pool by another student during physical education class. After two days in an intensive care unit, he died.

His brother was touched by a vigil in Jesse’s honor. Classmates lit one candle after another.

“His condition seemed to be improving, but then his heart just gave up.” said Luis Prado.

Three families wish they could turn back the clock, but doing their best to accept their loved ones are now gone.

“He’s in a better place now, we all loved him so much.” said Prado.

The fire department says it boils down to complacency, even with teenagers. They say to be on the lookout and watch over them.

All three incidents are still under investigation.

Pool construction always requires more than just digging a hole.

The process can require hours of research into local requirements and interpreting confusing language to make sure people are following the letter of the law.

The Queen Creek Town Council just made that process a little easier.

Coinciding with National Water Safety Month, the council last week approved a measure clarifying many requirements and moving its disparate regulations, including those governing pool fences, into one part of its building codes.

“Now you’ve got one place to look for all the requirements including fed law, state law, et cetera,” said Dean Wise, who oversees the town’s building safety division.

Wise said the net result saves time and money for both parties, allowing builders to complete their projects correctly on the first attempt.

“The more information that people have that is discernible, the better product you usually get,” Wise said.

It improves safety, said Rick Chafey, co-owner of Red Rock Pools & Spas.

“The benefit of having all this information now under one ordinance should definitely make it safer because we won’t overlook something,” he said.

Chafey said pool requirements for new home construction are often found in a municipality’s zoning ordinances while requirements for remodels are under the building section.

“It really doesn’t make sense for there to be a separate set of rules . . . especially when it comes to the safety requirements and safety issues with pools,” he said.

The move culminates more than a year of painstaking work by Wise, who said he had to pore over federal and state laws and canvass countless requirements in jurisdictions across the Valley and nation.

Chafey said interpretations and vagueness in municipal laws can be a challenge for builders.

“It seems every city we go to has a different set of rules and then when that city has complicated rules, it definitely makes it even worse when you’ve got to kind of read between the lines to figure out how they’re going to apply them,” he said.

Queen Creek said the ordinance passed by the Town Council will clarify some requirements to cut down on confusion.

A 1-year-old boy is in critical condition after nearly drowning in a backyard pool Wednesday.

It happened before 8 a.m. at a home near Greenway Road and 41st Avenue in Phoenix.

Captain Scott McDonald with the Phoenix Fire Department said the toddler slipped out a back door and into the pool while his father was sleeping.

When the boy’s father woke up, he found his son floating in the water.

“There’s a chance the child was unaccounted for, for 30 minutes,” McDonald said.

According to Phoenix Fire officials, the little boy is on life support at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center.

McDonald said the pool’s cold water may have helped the child.

Firefighters are using this time to remind parents to keep an eye on their young children and fence in their pools.

“We’ve got to ask the residents of Phoenix, and the whole Valley, to watch your kids around water,” McDonald said. “Supervision is number one.”

A five year old boy drowned in a golf course pond on Tucson’s southeast side Thursday.

A man called Pima County Sheriff to report that his son was missing about 12:30 p.m. Twenty minutes later, deputies found five year old Zachary Clark in a nearby pond on the Santa Rita Country Club and Golf Course.

Deputies performed CPR until EMT’s arrived and the boy was airlifted to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

By Friday, the question was being asked, should golf courses, even private ones, fence in ponds and water features scattered throughout their courses?

Tucson city courses are fenced in, preventing children or anyone else from getting to their water hazards.

Santa Rita is a private club.

“If there was a fence around the pond, it would probably have saved the child’s life,” says Todd Cupell, a captain with the Corona de Tucson fire department.

One neighbor, Kim Wilson, quickly constructed a small sign after the boys death saying “fence in the pond.”

“It needs to be done for the future. It’s a real safety issue,” he says.

“I don’t want the pond fenced in,” says another neighbor, Bill Hower, who lives across the street.

“It doesn’t solve the actual problem which is the parents should know where their children are and be responsible,” he says.

It’s a dilemma which Corona de Tucson could face again.

In the past 15 years, it has grown from a retirement community to a family community with two new schools.

Cupell says the drowning may change the approach of the fire department.

“We’ll educate, educate, educate and with the education comes the change,” he says.

One of the elementary schools is just down the street from the open pond.

We are told there have been complaints from the golf course that the children have been using it as a shortcut to get home or a place to play.

And the neighbors agree the children use it from time to time.

“There are a few of them that go over there and put their feet in the water or swim in it a little bit,” says Hower.

Pima County Supervisor Rich Elias says it would not be feasible to require fencing around private courses because many times their meander through neighborhoods.

But he believes there could be some rules when it comes to water hazards on the courses.

“Maybe it’s time we take a look at an ordinance,” he says.

He calls the incident a “real tragedy” and believes children need to be protected from water hazards.

The city and county both have laws which require homeowners to put fencing and other barriers up to keep children out of swimming pools and they are on private property.

But so far, there are no laws which require fencing on golf courses.

“There’s evidence which shows barriers around pools saves the lives of children,” says Cupell.

“As a five year old, and as most of us, I’m sure he was just drawn to water and the fish and turtles,” said neighbor Dee McAlpine before she became emotional. “My thoughts are with his family.”

Corona de Tucson Fire District said that this is the first drowning that they have had.