Number of drownings increasing; Lexington Fire Department shares summer statistics

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) —The Lexington Fire Department responded to four drownings these past few summer months.

“It’s one of those unfortunate circumstances where someone may get in the water that is a capable swimmer, but things do occur, people have medical emergencies, they are overcome by the water, they don’t think exactly how far away they are from the shore,” Capt. Ben Runnels said.

Compared to last summer, Runnels says there has been an increase in drownings.

“As far as any particular cause for that, we have not been able to identify one,” he said.

Some factors that contribute to drownings include not wearing a life vest, leaving small kids unattended, and more.

“Specifically, here in Fayette County, we do have quite a few springs under water that can produce small currents,” he said. “Any time that there’s wind, even on a static source of water like a lake or a pond, it’s going to produce movement within the water.”

Captain Runnels adding that no matter how good of a swimmer you are, there are so many other factors that can make the water dangerous. The Lexington Fire Department says they’re always operating in rescue mode when they get that call for a possible drowning.

“We’re going to deploy boats out to the water source, we have two different sonar units that we’re going to start scanning the area with and finding that witness to see the point last seen of that person before they went underwater,” Runnels said.

From there, they deploy their divers. The Lexington Fire Department has anywhere from 40 to 50 certified divers that rescue and find people in the water.