A series of recent drownings across Central Florida added urgency to a water safety event held Saturday at Kelly Park.
Orange County Fire Rescue’s Community Risk Reduction Services team joined park lifeguards for World Drowning Prevention Day, demonstrating how crews respond when someone is in trouble in the water and teaching visitors how to perform hands-only CPR.
The event followed several recent tragedies, including the death of a DeLand mother who jumped into the St. Johns River to save her 4-year-old son. The child survived, but his mother drowned.
Three children have also died in Central Florida pools in recent months, including 5-year-old twins found in a vacation rental pool in Osceola County, a toddler who fell into a backyard pool and a 4-year-old boy who drowned at a Kissimmee community pool.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1 to 4, according to Orange County Fire Rescue.
During Saturday’s demonstration, lifeguards pulled a simulated victim from the water before transferring the patient to paramedics. A drone was also used to demonstrate how rescuers can search a larger area from above.
Visitors who happened upon the event were then invited to practice chest compressions on CPR mannequins.
“It was something new for me. I’ve never done CPR, and so I didn’t know much about it,” one visitor said.
Christina Ayers, a public education specialist with Orange County Fire Rescue, said families should remember the ABCs of drowning prevention: adult supervision, barriers around pools and classes that teach children how to swim.
Crews recommend assigning one undistracted adult to watch children in the water, using four-sided pool fencing with a self-latching gate and putting life jackets on weak swimmers and anyone who cannot swim.
Ayers says families should also keep a reaching pole or flotation device nearby. If someone is struggling in open water, rescuers recommend reaching or throwing something that floats instead of entering the water and potentially becoming a second victim.
Orange County Fire Rescue also offers free door and window alarms for homes with children or others who may wander toward water. The alarms alert families when a door or window leading outside is opened.
Officials say those layers of protection, along with CPR knowledge, can help prevent another emergency from becoming a tragedy.