Even with summer coming to a close soon and children returning to school, there are still plenty of child safety risks associated with summer that need to be addressed in the home. The biggest of course being swimming pools, and a news outlet in Ontario, California addresses the issue with swimming pools on the property of unoccupied homes.
"These foreclosed, unmaintained, unoccupied homes are the new killer in your neighborhood," said Joe Powell, emergency medical services coordinator for the Rialto Fire Department.
Forty-four kids in the county from only a few months to 5 years old drowned between 2000 and 2005, according to the California Department of Health. There were 130 nonfatal, hospitalized injuries from near drowning or submersion.
Officials said unsecured, untreated pools at foreclosed homes not only pose a health hazard but can also prove fatal to kids attracted by water toys left by previous occupants.
Older kids are not immune to accidents at the pools either, they said. Abandoned pools turn green with time, hiding plastic bags and other trash that can entangle anyone who may fall in, officials said.
There are 853 vacant, unsecured properties in the city, said David Hernandez, senior code officer. His department has answered 155 calls for abandoned pools. Twenty-one calls remain active.
Hernandez urged residents through the county to call local code enforcement to secure abandoned pools.
Officials reminded the public that drownings among kids nationwide increase by 89 percent between May and August, and home swimming pools are the most common site for drownings among children ages 1 to 4.
If you know of a swimming pool on an unoccupied or abandoned property, call the city codes office immediately and alert them to the danger.