June 07--A 9-month-old Irvine baby drowned Saturday in the family's backyard pool after slipping unnoticed from the home, authorities said.
The boy's mother couldn't locate her son, ran to the backyard and found him underwater at the family's home in the 50 block of Carver, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.
The mother called 911, and Irvine police and paramedics initiated CPR and other life-saving measures, Concialdi said.
The child, whose name was not released, was transported to Hoag Hospital and later pronounced dead.
It appeared that the family's German shepherd tried to pull the child from the water but was unsuccessful, Concialdi said.
This year, the department has received 25 drowning calls and 14 have resulted in fatalities, Concialdi said. In the last 30 days, seven children in Orange County have drowned and in six of those cases there was no fencing to prevent a child from slipping into the pool, he said.
"Children see a pool as playtime," Concialdi said. "They're used to being in a bathtub where they're safe and they don't realize the danger of jumping in, especially if they don't know how to swim. Parent's need to know the A, B, Cs of safety -- active supervision, barriers and instruction in CPR."
