April 30--RIALTO -- The memory of a 3-year-old girl found floating in her family's hot tub on Christmas Eve of 2004 sticks in Rialto Firefighter/Paramedic Matt Payne's mind to this day.
The girl, who suffered permanent brain damage in the near-drowning, was part of the reason he and other firefighters began looking for a way to keep children safe around water.
Bringing a book, a mascot duck named Stewie and a memorable song to first-grade classrooms, Rialto firefighters have managed to decrease drownings in the city.
"Our numbers are considerably starting to go down more and more," Payne said.
San Bernardino County had a dozen drownings in 2005, six in Rialto alone. There were also four
child near-drownings that year.
Since then, Rialto Fire Department has started working with the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation. The foundation was formed in 1990 by the parents of a 21-month-old boy who drowned.
Firefighters began visiting classrooms, reading to children from a book called "Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim." It's an illustrated story of a duck whose friends avoid swimming with him until he adopts three rules of water safety: learning to swim, wearing a life jacket and only swimming in the presence of adults.
The next year, six fatal drownings fell to two. In 2009, there were none.
Rialto firefighters visited Trapp Elementary School on Monday, one of 19 schools they plan to visit. They hope to reach some 2,400 children this year.
Raul Angulo, 7, a Trapp Elementary student, said his parents taught him to swim a year ago, but it was still good to get a reminder of the importance of water safety.
"If you don't know how to swim, you'll drown," he said.
His classmate, Allison Guzman, also learned to swim from her parents.
"It was a little scary at first, but I got the hang of it," the 7-year-old said.
Firefighters leave copies of the water safety book with the classrooms they visit and at the school libraries, Payne said.
"Principals in the past have told me it's the most checked-out book they have," Payne said.
Copyright 2013 - San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.
