By Bay City News Service
A 4-year-old boy narrowly escaped drowning in a backyard pool in Clayton on Christmas Day, a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman said.
Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to a home on Inverness Way at 7:12 p.m. Wednesday after family members found the boy floating in the pool and pulled him out, fire spokesman Capt. Kent Kirby said.
Dispatchers gave the relatives step-by-step CPR instructions over the phone, and the boy regained consciousness before a firefighter-paramedic unit arrived, he said. "It was a close call," the captain said.
The boy was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek in critical condition but is expected to survive. The home where the incident occurred is located near a fire station that closed earlier this year due to budget cuts, Kirby said.
However, the fire district's Engine 22 is stationed in the small town from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and was able to respond within minutes. Without the mobile command unit, the captain said, "it could have been a longer response."
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