Safe to swim?

Tariq Malik

A cool dip in the backyard pool may be a tempting goal for many

residents seeking shelter from rising temperatures this summer, but some

in the city and county are urging caution for families with young

children.

The months between May and September comprise the county’s drowning

season -- when a child playing in water is the most likely to turn to

tragedy -- and water safety and emergency preparedness is key, they said.

“Drowning deaths are 100% preventable,” said Michelle Feczko,

childhood injury prevention coordinator for the Children’s Hospital of

Orange County. “The key is to build layers of barriers, like assigning a

water watcher during outdoor activities who knows how to swim, learning

infant CPR and establishing community child supervision.”

Despite their preventability, child drownings appear to be up in

Orange County.

Statistics gathered by the coroner’s office at the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Anaheim and Orange County fire

departments, show that four children under the age of 5 died in drowning

accidents last year, hospital officials said.

However, this year, there have already been seven -- the year is only

half over -- and two were in Huntington Beach.

In February, 4-year-old Cylar Moss drowned after climbing into a

neighbor’s backyard pool in the 14000 block of Thunderbird Circle. More

recently, 2-year-old Chance Biedelman died at Children’s Hospital of

Orange County, after being pulled from the pool behind his Red Jacket

Circle home in critical condition.

“We’re at almost double last year’s incidents,” Feczko said, adding

that the most harrowing part of the year is yet to pass. “We’ve only just

started drowning season.”

Hospital officials said they haven’t seen a spike like this since

1993, when 17 toddlers drowned.

“I hope the drowning of my grandson will open up some people’s eye’s

on the safety of fences and swimming pool regulations,” said Glenn Moss,

Cylar’s grandfather. “I am so sorry to hear that another young one has

lost his life because of some mishap.”

City officials have been looking into the possible use of motion

sensors and alarms to alert pool owners of an accident, and the City

Council on Monday asked for a report on whether they could be required as

new pools are built or sold during home sales.

Meanwhile, Dotti Hughes, who runs Huntington Beach’s aquatics program

at Edison and Marina high schools, as well as at the City Gym and Pool,

organized a drowning prevention workshop in May, but the program was

ill-attended.

The city offers swimming lessons for those 3 and older and expects

about 4,000 toddlers to go through its 5-years-and-under program this

summer.

“People with pools should have to have a self-locking gate around the

pool, but that is often fulfilled in the side door of a backyard fence,”

Hughes said. “Most people are in the mind-set that a child-drowning won’t

happen to them.”

Although Hughes views swimming lessons as another method of preparing

children, parents should know that the American Pediatric Assn. does not

recommend them for those younger than 4.

“Children that young aren’t able to, in a drowning situation, remember

the sequential steps necessary to swim,” Feczko said, adding that lessons

can actually attract youngsters to water. “They provide a false sense of

security for parents.”

Councilman Dave Garofalo, who has urged city study into motion

detectors for swimming pools, said the recent deaths in Huntington Beach

have made it clear that the relatively benign image of the recreation

area can be misleading.

“We’re a very water-oriented town, and it’s a draw for many people,”

he said, adding that for all their fun, there are intrinsic dangers to

pools filled with water. “Then again, you can’t leave them empty until

you use them because that’s dangerous too.”

Like secondary interior self-locking gates, which surround swimming

pools in a protective shell of fencing, motion detectors are another form

of defense, alerting pool owners of wave motion.

“I don’t think you can rely completely on any one thing to prevent

accidents,” Feczko said. “But I think having some kind of statute that

sets barriers for everyone in the community is a start.”