A scary situation at the Hartford Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center turned into a reason to celebrate. When a two-year-old slipped under the water, the lifeguard and bystanders jumped into action, saving the boy.
The pool just opened July 11. The managers said they haven't hit capacity, but it's been full. They made the decision to have extra lifeguards.
"Seems like minutes, even hours when a child isn't breathing," said Steve Volkert the City Administrator in Hartford. But, in those minutes the right decisions were made.
"A lifeguard instantly saw it happen," he said.
Other swimmers helped the 16-year-old lifeguard get the boy out of the pool.
"Two nurses were in the pool, saw what was happening and came to the aid of the lifeguard and all three of four parties continued CPR," explained Terri Olivo, the aquatic and fitness supervisor for the city.
It's a rescue effort that may not have been so fast, but Hartford put extra safety in place.
"We actually added an additional guard to happened to be in the position that was the one who responded," said Volkert.
That's a scary spot for a teenager, but the lifeguards get thirty hours of CPR training, plus an additional ten hours each year. Social media posts call the girl a hero.
"She's grateful that she had some amazing citizens in the area that were able to help out in the situation. I did talk to her today and told her about the social media things we've been reading about how she was a hero in addition to the entire team that was here yesterday," said Olivo.
Olivo said she's seen more incidents this year than ever before in her 20 year career. She said there have been 20 since the pool opened on July 11, but said that's standard for many pools. She said many of the rescues are children who get tired repeatedly jumping off the diving board.
The little boy was taken to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin for observation, but was expected to be out of the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
