VIDEO: This Fourth of July weekend, there were several water related emergencies across the DMV, and first responders are stressing the importance of water safety as the summer months press on. “I think across the United States, we average 10 drownings per day across the United States, and of those, 10% of those are typically children,” said Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Assistant Chief Donald Fletcher. According to the Virginia Department of Health, six children under the age of five have lost their lives to swimming pool drownings in Virginia since Memorial Day, and between 2020 and 2024, nearly 500 people accidentally drowned in Virginia. Nearly a fifth of them were under the age of 19. On the Fourth of July, first responders rescued five men after a boat flipped over near the Washington Monument. On Saturday night, D.C. Fire and EMS also rescued another person from the Potomac River near the Key Bridge. They were taken to a hospital in critical condition.
