Pall Cast Over Fireworks As Tyke Pulled from Water

By Martin Henderson

An apparently lifeless 3-year-old pulled from the water—a Fourth of July tragedy in the making—hung over the 2013 Independence Day festivities Thursday at the Beach Club in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Although the boy didn't die at the scene—and was breathing at Mission Hospital though his condition was shaky—word circulated around the lake was that there had been a fatality.

The discovery of the young boy on the north side of the lagoon about 7:45 p.m., elicited a call for help over the public address seeking anyone who knew CPR, according to witnesses. 

One of those who responded to that plea was Sam Green, an off-duty Los Angeles County fireman who was across the lake celebrating Independence Day with The Bridge Church and ran to the scene to begin lifesaving efforts.

The efforts of Green and other off-duty professionals may have contributed to saving the youngster's life. At 9 p.m., the Orange County Fire Authority reported the youngster was at Mission Hospital and had been revived, but was in "unstable condition."

"He was dead when we pulled him out," Green said of the boy, who was among the hundreds at the Beach Club and thousands who gathered around Lago Santa Margarita for annual Fourth of July festivities.

The drama played out in front of hundreds who had been frolicking moments earlier.

According to the blotter of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, a 9-1-1 call was made at 7:47 p.m., 73 minutes before the scheduled start of the fireworks show presented by the Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation—more commonly known as SAMLARC—the master homeowner association in the area. 

Green, a resident of Robinson Ranch, was among the four people who worked to revive the child on the grass at the beach club. He said the others were also off-duty professionals: a nurse, an Orange County medic, and another person who clearly knew what he was doing but who Green couldn't further describe.

They worked frantically until OCFA arrived and did a "scoop and run" to the hospital, Green said. 

But Green and the others, he said, were shocked "there were no lifeguards around, no supplies" when the chips were down. He said lifeguards had been on duty throughout the day. 

The supplies in the emergency kit provided them, he said, were band-aids. There was no Ambu bag, which is commonly used to assist ventilation which negates mouth-to-mouth contact. Also missing were an automatic electric defibrillator, used to help shock the heart, and an airway, which helps keep the tongue out of the way while trying to administer CPR. 

"Everyone was asking for the same thing," Green said. "That's astounding to me.  These are places that have trained lifeguards, but to have no first aid kit—for this to happen is unacceptable to me. And there were no lifeguards while we were performing CPR. It's a little disheartening."

According retired Lt. Paul Fuzzard of the OCSD, the police report indicated "lifeguards notified staff who called 9-1-1," and the report also confirmed the presence of Green and others. "The info I have is off-duty nurses and medics were on the scene," he said. 

Even as the boy was being loaded into the ambulance, he exhibited no signs of breathing or a pulse, said Green, a firefighter of 14 years. Word of what was believed to be a drowning spread from one side of the lake to the other, although there were many who were oblivious to what transpired inside the Beach Club's fences.

After the boy was taken away by ambulance, all that was left to do was pray, which Green said he and his fellow church members did. Despite the prayer, Green had witnessed death before and admitted his doubts: "I looked at it and it was like, 'No way.' "

At 9 p.m., the time the fireworks show was to begin, the OCFA tweeted an update: "Mission Hospital has revived the boy. He is in unstable condition. No further details."

According to Green, the boy was pulled from the water by his father and was understandably hysterical, and that the child's mother had gone to the restroom and returned as the boy was being loaded into the ambulance after only a few minutes. He also said there were lots of others in the shallow pool area, and when that occurs, it's often assumed everyone is being watched.

When told at 11:30 p.m., that the OCFA had reported the boy was alive, Green couldn't believe it. 

"That's amazing," he said.