Pool Safety Highlighted Amid Recent Drownings
CHELSEA (CBS) -- With the weather heating up, people are turning to pools, beaches and lakes to cool off, but recent drownings point to the dangers posed by the water.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Pool in Chelsea was packed Sunday afternoon as the temperatures reached 90 degrees.
Brittany Filadoro of Revere was busy keeping an eye on her younger sister and her two cousins as they splashed in the pool.
"Even though there's lifeguards, I mean an extra eye is always more important because anything can happen" she said.
Not far away at Revere Beach, it's the same story -- wall-to-wall swimmers with plenty of smaller kids.
Department of Conservation and Recreation Aquatic Director John Dwinell says lifeguards at pools and beaches provide protection, but he says parents are the first line of defense. Dwinell told WBZ-TV's Jim Smith parents need to watch their children and even better, actually go into the water with them.
It's been a rough weekend for water safety. Saturday night in Framingham, a 10-year old girl drowned in a backyard pool. And in Yarmouth on Cape Cod, a man drowned at a beach after suffering an apparent medical problem.
Back at the pool in Chelsea, Brian Thornton sticks close to his 4-year-old son Joshua.
"100 percent he never leaves my side" Thornton said. "My eyes are never off him for a second"