Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer. That means swimming pools and boating trips for many people, but it also means emergency crews will see an uptick in drownings.
Tarrant County has seen a big spike, especially in child drownings, over the past two years. Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth reported 42 near-drownings in 2014, up to 74 in 2015. In both years, five cases proved fatal. Last year, there were 69 near-drownings, and eight were fatal.
Fort Worth firefighters are starting new training to save lives.
"There have already been 28 deaths this year in Texas waters," said Battalion Chief Jeff Novak, of Fort Worth Fire Station 17.
That's the highest rate in the country.
"It's absolutely preventable," Novak said.
So this year, Fort Worth is trying something different, as all 900 firefighters rotate through the department's new training center.
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"To simulate near drownings and injuries that occur," Novak said.
They practice getting an unconscious person out of the water, with standard techniques like chest compressions and CPR, plus new equipment like a c-pap machine to get patients breathing again.
"Our training is evolving with the times," Novak said.
Then there's the risk of neck injury from diving in shallow water. Firefighters practiced clamping a patient's arms against his ears to stabilize his spine, strap him to a backboard and get him out safely.
This weekend is also the big kickoff to the boating season, which brings the risk of people falling overboard. Firefighters say if you see someone in the water, trying calling out to get them to save themselves first.
The next step is to find something that you can throw to them to try to pull them back in, and the very last resort is to actually risk your own life jumping in the water.
Educating all of us on water safety us is every bit as important as the training firefighters run through.
"The number-one cause of death in children four and under is drowning," Novak said. "No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them."
Because the stakes are too high and the solutions too clear.
"Be careful this weekend," Novak said.
Watching children closely in the water is the most important thing. So the fire department is handing out 'Water Watcher' bracelets, asking one adult to put them on and keep their eyes solely on the kids in 15 minute shifts.
