Saratoga News

Saratoga Fire District offers parents tips on water-safety

By Sarah Lombardo

Summertime is swimming pool time, and the Saratoga Fire District is reminding parents that no child is "water-safe"--even if the child knows how to swim. To help keep children safe, the district encourages parents and homeowners to follow a few water-safety tips, such as placing appropriate fencing with self-closing latches around the pool; keeping gates to the pool locked when the pool is not in use; keeping chairs, tables and other items children can climb away from the pool area; mounting lifesaving flotation devices near the pool; posting 911 stickers on the phones and near the pool area; keeping doors that lead to the pool locked at all times and learning CPR--just in case.

Saratoga Fire District officials also suggest that parents, guardians and babysitters never leave a child alone in a pool--not even for a minute.

"The main thing that we want parents to remember is not to leave the kids in the pool unattended while they get the phone or answer the door," Beau Rahn, an engineer and public education officer with the district, said. "Bring the child with you."

Rahn added that swimming pools are not the only bodies of water that pose a threat. Bathtubs, kitchen sinks, lakes, canals, rivers, ditches and even an ordinary bucket of water can be enough to drown a child whose face or head may be trapped underwater.

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