KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A 4-year-old boy remains in critical condition after a near-drowning at a vacation rental home in Kissimmee, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to the home around 7 p.m. Thursday after the child was found unresponsive in a swimming pool.
The boy was initially taken to a local hospital before being airlifted to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, authorities said.
Investigators said the child was visiting from Georgia with his parents and sibling when the incident occurred. The sheriff’s office believes the drowning happened within minutes.
“These things can happen so quick with small children around water,” Osceola County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Kim Montes said. “We always tell people just to take those extra precautions.”
The incident is the not the first in Central Florida this year.
In July, 5-year-old twin girls from Georgia died after they were found unresponsive in a pool at a Kissimmee vacation home.
According to a July statement from U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida recorded 119 child drowning deaths in 2025, the highest number ever reported in the state. More than 60 child drowning deaths were recorded between January and July of this year.
Under Florida’s Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act, residential pools must have at least one approved safety feature, such as a pool cover, door alarm or safety barrier. However, the law applies only to pools built after October 2000.
In response to the latest incident, Osceola County Sheriff Christopher Blackmon met with Airbnb representatives this morning to discuss additional safety measures that could be added to vacation rental properties.
Montes said the sheriff’s office would like to see more prominent safety warnings placed at rental homes.
“We want Airbnb to take a big red warning sticker and put it on the sliding glass door: ‘Warning, drownings are prevalent in Florida,’” Montes said. “We want something to hit them in the face when they walk up to that door and remind them they have to watch children around pools.”
The sheriff’s office said the child remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Friday.
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