A two-year-old girl has been released from the hospital after being pulled from a backyard pool at a home in Glendale Sunday night in critical condition.
According to Glendale fire officials, crews responded to a home near 59th Avenue and Cactus Road after a girl was found underwater for an extended period of time by a family member. She was taken to the hospital in extremely critical condition but was reportedly awake and crying after arriving, officials said.
According to a fire official on scene, the family was having a barbeque at the time of the incident. Officials said a family member jumped in and pulled the girl from the pool and began performing rescue attempts.
Shortly after, a Glendale police officer arrived and continued CPR until fire personnel arrived and took the child to an area hospital. The fire spokesperson said crews were able to arrive on scene quickly due to extra units being in the area at the time on a different call.
The toddler is now home from the hospital, and doing well, greeted by family members with a cake and balloons.
David Holmes told ABC15 that on Sunday another family member was in charge as he left the house for just a few minutes. When he returned, he says he heard his other daughter screaming in the backyard.
"Horror, shock," Holmes said. "I knew I had to take action."
Once in the backyard, Holmes says he found his other daughters attending to 2-year-old Diana.
"We've seen these incidents," Holmes said of drownings around the Valley. "We have wondered how can this happen?"
Holmes told ABC15 his other daughter, 8, initially saw Diana under the water and started screaming. His 10-year-old daughter then helped get her out of the pool and his 14-year-old daughter started CPR before David made it to the backyard.
"We talk about it several times throughout the year," Holmes said. "What do you do? What's your role? If you find someone drowning, what are you going to do?"
Holmes credits his daughters with helping save Diana's life, estimating she was under the water for roughly a minute. He also credits the nearby first responders, who happened to be in the neighborhood on an unrelated call and rushed Diana to the hospital.
David now wants other parents to learn from what happened to his family. Their pool does have a fence.
"Pool safety isn't enough," he said. "Don't stop at having a gate or making sure an adult is out there. Don't stop there. Accidents happen and it can happen to anybody at any time."
David says he is glad his children were prepared and knew CPR.
"If it can happen to us, it can happen to anybody," he said.
Glendale police told ABC15 on Tuesday they are still investigating the incident. It's unclear specifically how the child wound up in the water.
