May 10--OGDEN -- With temperatures and water levels rising, Utah Department of Health officials are reminding parents how to keep children safe during the next few months.
The biggest thing parents need to do during the warmer season is to make sure small children are being actively watched, said Jenny Johnson, spokeswoman for the UDOH Violence and Injury Prevention Program.
"It only takes seconds for something to happen. Most (accidents) are 100 percent preventable," she said.
"We want you to go out and enjoy things, but if you have children, you need to be actively supervising them. There is a difference between being there in person and actively watching them."
Johnson said drowning is one of the leading causes of injury-related death to children younger than 18 in the state. She said the first drowning death of the season typically happens around this time.
"A lot of times, people think drowning can only happen in backyard pools, but we see patterns," she said.
"Year after year, most drownings in Utah happen in open bodies of water. We are just urging people to be extremely careful where the water is cold, fast and has debris in it."
Most drownings occur with children younger than 4 wandering off during a family gathering and falling into a body of water, she said.
Another pattern shows teenagers, frequently males, drown when swimming with friends in a reservoir or lake. A friend or family member may see the victim go under water but is unable to rescue the person.
Overestimating one's swimming abilities and peer pressure to take risks are often factors in teenage drowning deaths, UDOH officials say.
Lance Peterson, emergency services director for the Weber County Sheriff's Office, urges people to stay away from local rivers during this period of fast-flowing, high waters.
"Stay away from rivers for the next month," he said. "They'll be running high and hard."
Johnson said another deadly risk taken too often by parents is leaving children unattended in a vehicle. Nationwide, an average of 38 children have died from heat stroke every year since 1998 after being left unattended.
"We tend to think kids' bodies are just like little adult-sized bodies," she said.
"Children, especially infants, have a hard time cooling their body temperatures, so being left alone in any enclosed space can be deadly for kids. It happens so quickly, we don't realize what's happening to their little bodies. And cracking a window doesn't help."
Even 70-degree days can be deadly or damaging to children, Johnson said.
"(Many) don't understand how quickly the sun is turning your car into an oven," she said.
"The car temperature can go up 30 degrees in 20 minutes. That's 100 degrees in the vehicle with a child who can't regulate their body temperature. It's just not safe."
Leaving children alone in a vehicle is illegal in Utah, Johnson said, so if any passersby see a child left alone in a vehicle, they should call 911 so the child can receive help and be removed from the increasing heat.
Health officials are also urging drivers to use extra caution when children are around vehicles.
In Utah, an average of four children younger than 10 are killed and another 60 are injured every year after being hit or run over in driveways, parking lots and other private property locations.
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