Seminole County fire departments taking steps to help prevent child drownings

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Officials with the Seminole County Fire Department say they’ve already responded to four child drowning calls this year. They only went to six in all of 2021.

To help, The Seminole County Fire Department along with the sheriff’s office and municipal fire departments are putting together drowning prevention resource packets to be distributed to the community.

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Wendy Roundtree is a Seminole County mother who says she never learned how to swim herself, but she’s working to change that.

“My son and I are actually taking swimming lessons this summer,” Roundtree said. “When you don’t know how to swim, that anxiety is always there. And so we wanted to change that.”

Roundtree and her son Mason just finished up their first week of lessons. She believes it’s important for kids to learn to swim at an early age, but the cost of lessons can make access difficult for some families.

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“Those are real barriers that can prevent people from learning how to swim and even getting access to a pool,” Roundtree said.

Paramedic Marcus Gombs says he’s had to respond to several drowning calls for children, and drowning calls for Blacks and Latinos in particular are extremely high.

“We try our best to go and get there as quickly as we possibly can to try to help out,but usually by the time we get there, it’s already too late,” Gombs says. “It’s literally the worst call that you possibly could ever go through.”

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Gombs says exposure to the water is key. There are also scholarships available to get children swim lessons for those who can’t afford it.

Parents should be sure to lock the gates to pools so kids can’t get access. It’s also important to learn how to perform CPR.

The drowning prevention resource packets are available at all Seminole County fire stations.

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They also plan to keep them on their trucks to pass out to the public as they respond to calls.

Seminole County officials were joined by the families of two child drowning victims Thursday morning at the Public Safety Building in Sanford to help spread the word about the packets.

Apopka mother Jen Peacock lost her two-year-old son Wesley in a pool drowning two years ago.

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Former University of Central Florida and pro football player Chris Martin and his wife Christina lost their son Gunner due to a pool drowning in 2016. It led to the creation of the Gunner Martin Foundation which provides scholarships for discounts on swim lessons.

Both families were on-hand Thursday helping local public safety officials assemble the drowning prevention resource packets for each of the Seminole County Fire Department’s 20 fire stations.

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