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Toddler drowns after fall into pool

The pool is exempt from a law created to help prevent accidental drownings.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published October 31, 2006

PALM HARBOR - A 2-year-old girl left to play in a back yard died Monday after slipping through a ripped screen enclosure and falling into a family swimming pool.

Investigators had not determined how long Jillian Fuellbier had been left unsupervised. Her mother, Tara Zurenda, 22, had gone inside the house. When she returned to check on Jillian, she couldn't find the toddler, authorities said.

Relatives eventually discovered the girl at the bottom of the pool.

"Any situation where a child is injured or killed is tragic," sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said.

Deputies were dispatched at 3:54 p.m. Saturday to 3400 Snowy Egret Court, off U.S. 19 and Alderman Road. Relatives had pulled Jillian from the water and begun CPR when an ambulance arrived.

She was initially taken to Helen Ellis Hospital in Tarpon Springs but was later flown by helicopter to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. The toddler died at 9:50 a.m. on Monday. Family declined to comment.

Property records show the family pool was built in 1982, meaning it was exempt from a 2000 law requiring new residential swimming pools be built with safety devices aimed at preventing child drownings.

The law requires new pools to have one of four devices: a 4-foot-high barrier surrounding all sides of the pool, an approved pool cover, an alarm on all entrances to the pool area, or self-closing and self-locking devices on all entrances to the pool area.

The pool safety law doesn't apply to the estimated 1-million residential pools that already exist in Florida. It does affect the 23,000 new pools that are built or sold each year.

"It's the toddlers who are most at risk because it's their job to explore," said Jean Shoemaker, coordinator of Suncoast Safe Kids at All Children's Hospital. "At 2 years old, they're not going to tell you, 'I'm going to go out to the pool and jump in.' "

Accidental drowning is the leading cause of death in Florida for children ages 1 to 4, according to the state Department of Health. Of the 358 people who drowned accidentally in Florida in 2002, 67 were children ages 1 to 4.

Each year, about 250 children across the nation younger than 5 drown in swimming pools, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. More than 2,000 children in that age group are treated in hospital emergency rooms for near-drownings.

"It is a situation that is tragic and can be minimized, if not eradicated, if proper preventative measures are taken," Shoemaker said.

To help encourage parents watch their children while they are near or in the water, Safe Kids distributes a "designated child watcher" badge, she said.

Adults who wear the badge take responsibility for keeping the swimming area safe and making sure all children are accounted for at all times.

"Everyone assumes that somebody else is watching the kids," she said.

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 30, 2006, 23:38:36]