Arizona’s pool code credited with reducing drownings

What happened last summer in Arizona's "Valley of The Sun" -- home to more than 4 million residents in the Phoenix metropolitan area -- is something Phoenix Fire Captain Jay Arthur will never forget.

There wasn't one drowning death of a child between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

"We'd never had that before," Arthur said.

Last week, Phoenix, the nation's fifth-largest city, had its first drowning death of a child in 2007. In 2006, six children in Phoenix drowned.

Near drowning and drowning statistics are dropping in Phoenix, and Arthur credits the state's pool code, the providing of free pool fences for economically needy homeowners, and a strong public information campaign.

The state pool code requires homeowners with children under 6 to have either a fence around the pool, a motorized pool cover or special latches on doors and windows that open into the pool area.

"If an existing home is being sold to someone with a child under six, the sale can't go through until steps are taken for barriers to be put in," Arthur said.

In Southern Nevada, only new homes with pools are subject to stricter safety measures.

Capt. Rich Bauer, who works with United Phoenix Firefighter Charities, says the organization's free fence program has been instrumental in saving lives.

"We were leading the nation in drownings and near drownings on the west side of town in lower income areas," he said.

"We realized that slogans wouldn't do it. And we also realized that many of the working poor who bought older homes with pools couldn't afford fencing. "

Bauer said firefighters started raising funds and have installed more than 260 fences in five years.

"We went from 30 drownings or near drownings in one ZIP code to zero last summer," Bauer said.

"Fencing is really the only thing that works," he said. "Without it, you're just playing Russian roulette with your children's lives."

Vicki Monroe, a Clark County deputy district attorney who works on cases involving child drownings, appreciates what Phoenix is doing.

"What they're doing makes sense. Fencing saves lives."