Last night a 5 year old boy drowned in his back yard swimming pool in South Sacramento. This was a very sad reminder to all of us, just how fragile life is but more importantly, we need to all realize that these types of tragedies are very much preventable. There is no call more devastating for a Firefighter than to have to respond for a child that dies. And obviously there is nothing more devastating for a parent to go through than a loss of their child.

Drownings in Sacramento have become a problem. They occur way too much and it is very frustrating for us, because it seems like there is not much more we can do to help prevent them. Since I have become the Fire Departments Spokesperson, I have made drowning prevention a high priority. Captain Christian Pebbles, the Spokesperson for Sacramento Metro Fire and me continuously try our best to outreach to the public about the dangers of our waterways and the importance of having a responsible adult always keep an eye on children whenever they are in or near any body of water.

We have filmed and recorded many Public Service Announcements with various local media outlets, and we have written press release after press release and have spoken to many community organizations and anyone who will listen to us about this problem. But whatever we do, it never seems to be enough. We still have kids drown, and I guess I am starting to realize, that we always will. But we will not stop trying.

Sacramento Fire Battalion Chief Niko King is working on a project with the National Fire Academy that will help identify, exactly who it is that is drowning in our waters. We have a general idea of who drowns, but not enough specifics to help us better target our audience. Language, gender, age, were drugs or alcohol involved? These are some of the things that may help us do better outreach.

Statistics for drownings in Sacramento have never been very accurate. Some drownings get reported to us as “unresponsive persons, difficulty breathing, etc.” So they never get put into our system as drownings. Chief King is working on a documentation program that will have first responders in our County fill out a form that will help identify some of these important bits of information. And these forms will not only be filled out for confirmed drownings, but for near misses, where a person may have come close to drowning but actually survived.

In Sacramento City and County there is a new ordinance that mandates the wearing of a life jacket for anyone under the age of 13 when they are in any natural waterway, I.E. rivers, lakes, or streams. This has been somewhat controversial, because some believe that government has become to controlling. I agree in a lot of cases, but this ordinance was meant to help prevent needless deaths of children. It wasn’t written to create additional cash flow to local government; it was written to be used as a tool to help save lives.

If common sense were used by more people, these types of laws would not be required. But sadly, the lack of common sense seems more and more common now. I feel that educating people will help us achieve the results we are looking for. Many people do not realize just how dangerous our waters are. Hopefully the more we keep trying to get this message out, we will see more success.

For anyone that is interested in statistics, the Sacramento Region had about 80 drownings last year. It is unknown how many close calls there were, but we can assume there many.
Please respect our waters and always where a life jacket when you and your kids are in the water. And have a responsible adult keep an eye on the children when they are in the water. Nothing takes the place of a responsible adult.