Orange County officials remind parents of pool safety

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Adults and children swim in the LA Swim Stadium Pool on May 20, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

Pools and beaches are attractive places to be this hot holiday weekend, and that’s one reason Orange County officials want parents to prevent drowning with extra vigilance.

Orange County has one of the highest drowning rates in California. It’s not a statistic anyplace wants to claim. So far this year, the county Fire Authority’s responded to more than 20 emergency calls about drowning.

"There’s so many pools," says Jon Alpert. Alpert is the owner of Waterworks Aquatics, a swim school in Irvine. "There’s not just pools in people’s own backyards, but their friends’ backyards. There’s association pools in the community. So many times, parents feel if they don’t have a pool in their backyard, that they don’t need to take the proper training or get their kids the proper training because they don’t have a pool in the backyard. But actually most drownings do happen in a friend’s or relative’s, actually, home backyard pool."

Emergency officials say the key is to keep a close watch on kids when they’re swimming - and to make sure there’s a secure fence around the pool so they can’t get in when adults aren’t nearby.

Experts also say that taking emergency first aid classes, and swimming lessons for the kids, can save lives.