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When someone is in trouble in the water

For anyone watching someone struggle in the water right now, anyone with a person just pulled out, and anyone who wants to be ready before a day at the pool, the beach, the lake or the bath. What to do while they are in the water. CPR after drowning, and why it includes breaths. After a rescue. A missing child near water. Rip currents. Cold water. Floodwater and cars. Babies and children: baths, pools, fences, watching and lessons. Life jackets, alcohol, seizures and other risks. Where the sources differ. And the words to say when you call. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 3, 2026: the American Heart Association (its November 2024 announcement, Updated guidance says CPR with breaths essential for cardiac arrest following drowning; and two stories from American Heart Association News); the American Academy of Pediatrics on HealthyChildren.org (CPR for Drowning: Updated Guidance; Drowning Prevention for Curious Toddlers; Infant Drowning Prevention & Water Safety; Pool Dangers and Drowning Prevention; Water Safety at the Pool; Water Safety for Teens); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Preventing Drowning; Risk Factors for Drowning; Summer Swim Safety); the National Weather Service (Rip Current Safety; Cold Water Hazards and Safety; Turn Around Don’t Drown; During a Flood); the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Rip Currents); the United States Lifesaving Association (Rip Currents); the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (Emergency Preparation; Supervision; Life Jackets); Safe Kids Worldwide (Water Safety at Home; Swimming Safety Tips); Pool Safely, from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Safety Tips); the U.S. Coast Guard’s boating safety site (Wearing your Life Jacket); the National Park Service (Designate a Water Watcher); Ready.gov (Floods); and MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (the summaries of Drowning and CPR, not its encyclopedia). The descriptions of the 988 Lifeline and Crisis Text Line are the ones on our other pages, from their own front pages. Some pages could not be read: the American Red Cross and Mayo Clinic sites refused our request, and several addresses we tried were not found, so none of them is used. We did not read the resuscitation guideline itself as published in the journals, any CPR course material, the American Heart Association’s 2025 guidelines, any page on CPR for a baby under one year old, on what to watch for in the hours after someone has been under water, on ice, on boating rules, or on scuba or diving injuries, or any state’s or city’s law on pool fences or life jackets; where the page touches one of these, it says so. We did not call any number. Where two sources say different things, the page reports each: breaths or hands only, floating in a rip current, how long a Water Watcher’s turn is, life jackets in pools, and how much water moves a car. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose. It names no person, and it gives no figures for how many people drown; the sources have them, with their context. The depths, heights, temperatures and times on the page are the sources’ own. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a rescue service, a clinic or a swimming school, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].