Fire - News
Everyone’s Child
When the sirens wail and the news breaks that a child has drowned, everyone’s heart sinks…that child becomes everyone’s child. The temperature is climbing in the Valley of the Sun, and swim season is well underway. The Glendale Fire Department is striving to remind the public of the tragedy of drowning.
We hear water safety messages over and over again. They are on the news almost daily, on billboards, and in brochures. Unfortunately, we sometimes grow complacent and tune them out. Glendale firefighters are asking for your help in avoiding complacency. We all need to remember that drowning is a leading cause of death and permanent brain injury to young children.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Central Arizona, there were 52 fatal drowning in Maricopa County in 2007, 14 of those were children. Tragically, the first fatal drowning of 2008 occurred on May 7, 2008 in Glendale.
“Our hearts ache for the loss of this child and everyone impacted by this tragedy,” said Glendale Fire Chief Mark Burdick. “We must do everything we can to raise water safety awareness for the sake of our children,” Chief Burdick added.
The Glendale Fire Department is working tirelessly to bring the water safety message to each and every household. Most importantly, have layers of protection! Start with eye to eye adult supervision. If a child can’t swim, he or she should be in a life vest whenever around water. Also, teach non-swimmers how to swim. The City of Glendale offers free and low cost swimming lessons thorough the Parks and Recreation department.
Currently, educators with the Glendale Fire Department are striving to bring water safety programs into all Glendale Head Start programs, preschools, and daycare centers. We want to teach parents the importance of water safety and how to be wise around water. We want to teach the water safety rules to children as well. Glendale Fire Department personnel have visits scheduled to local libraries as well as community events throughout the next few months. Visit the Glendale Fire Department website for a listing of upcoming water safety events. Remember, when a child drowns, that child becomes everyone’s child.
The Glendale Fire Department has a drowning prevention program in which educators read the book Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim, to young children. Currently, we are scheduled to read during story time at area libraries. Our goal is to bring water safety education to parents as well. If you know of a parent group that would like us to visit and present this valuable safety information, please contact the community services division of the fire department at 623-930-3198. The following is a list of upcoming water safety events in Glendale:
May 10th – Glendale FD will visit the Family Church community safety event with water safety education. 6115 N. 91st Ave.
May 10th – Glendale FD will visit the Honeybaked Ham community event with water and car seat safety education. 51st Ave. / Olive
May 12th – Glendale FD will visit Food City with Ninos Segundo for “Be Wise Around Water” safety education event 6020 N. 59th Ave. Glendale
May 22nd – Glendale FD will visit the Glendale Main Library at 5959 W. Brown for story time with Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim 10:30-11am.
May 24th – Glendale Water Safety Day at Rose Lane Aquatics Center- 5003 W. Marlette Glendale 11am-2pm. Free swimming, safety booths, rescue demonstration and emergency apparatus display.
