4-Year-Old Airlifted to Hospital Following Drowning at Home

SANTA CLARITA, CA, July 17 (KNN) — Firefighters responded to a home on Wren Drive in Santa Clarita for a 911 call reporting a 4-year-old child who had drowned and was not breathing, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic confirmed.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m., Monday, fire crews, paramedics and sheriff’s deputies arrived to the home and worked to stabilize the boy.

A helicopter was requested to immediately respond to a nearby school to rush the child to a pediatric trauma center.

Copter 21 arrived within three minutes to the Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary school soccer field and transported one parent and the boy to the hospital.

Deputies are investigating the circumstances leading up to the drowning.

Firefighter/paramedic Jacob Windell spoke with Key News Network on camera regarding the incident as well as tips for parents this summer.

Windell expressed how important it is to have a stabilized child transported to a hospital after a drowning incident to make sure the child is not retaining any water in their lungs or anywhere in their body, and be monitored for an ongoing period.

“Unfortunately, we see these kinds of calls every summer,” said Windell. “Our biggest advice to parents is #1, always keep eyes on your children, especially when there’s open bodies of water.”

Windell recommends gates and fences around the pool and alarm systems.

There are inexpensive alarm systems online that will alert you when a door is open, according to Windell.

“Anytime you have an open body of water – let it be a pool, a kiddy pool, a 5-gallon bucket that’s full of water – children should not be around that unless they are under the supervision of adults…and everybody should know where a child is at all times around bodies of water,” said Windell.

Austin Dave, Video Journalist / KNN