Free life jackets to be given out at four popular Fresno County parks on Saturday

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Lakes and rivers successful the Central Valley are fashionable places to chill down arsenic we acquisition triple-digit heat.

Those waterways, though fun, are not ever the safest.

So acold this year, 9 radical person drowned successful Fresno County's earthy waterways.

"One drowning is excessively many, and erstwhile we look astatine the drownings we've had successful the period of June, we've seen incidents that person been tragic but person been preventable had radical been wearing beingness jackets that decently were fitted and secured connected them and whitethorn not person suffered a tragic ending," Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said.

Kyrie Schaeffer of Kingsburg saw the section tragedies connected ABC30 and decided she wanted to find a mode to help.

"As a ma of three, I privation my children to beryllium safe, and that extends to each radical and children," Schaeffer explained. "I conscionable privation radical to beryllium harmless and alert that erstwhile they're getting into the water, they request to deterioration beingness vests."

"Put a beingness overgarment on," Zanoni said. "It could prevention your life."

Schaeffer was capable to cod astir 100 beingness vests with the assistance of the community, section organizations and companies.

Those beingness vests were donated to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office connected Friday.

The Sheriff's bureau stressed that if you cannot swim, you shouldn't get into the h2o without a properly-fitted beingness vest.

"That's what we would telephone a bully acceptable for a beingness overgarment due to the fact that it's unafraid connected him, it's snug and won't propulsion retired implicit his head," Zanoni explained portion demonstrating a properly-fitted beingness vest. "That's what we've had erstwhile radical leap successful the h2o feet first, the beingness overgarment is excessively large oregon not secured properly, and it came close disconnected implicit the individuals head."

The donated beingness jackets volition beryllium fixed retired for escaped to anyone needing 1 connected a first-come, first-served ground astatine Skaggs Bridge Park, Lost Lake Park, Avocado Lake and Laton-Kingsburg Park astatine 10 americium connected Saturday.

Donations are inactive accepted. If you would similar to donate a beingness jacket, you tin inactive bash truthful done the Sheriff's bureau oregon your section constabulary and occurrence departments.

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