BURLINGTON, Vt. — On Wednesday June 26, 2007, at 19:07 hrs., the Burlington Fire Department responded to a possible drowning at the fishing pier off Lake Street. Firefighters arrived in less than three minutes and found a fifteen year old male in the care of two Waterfront Diving instructors.
The patient was conscious but lethargic and had vomited a moderate amount of water after being pulled out of the lake. The patient was transported to FAHC for evaluation.
The patient apparently had been on the fishing pier with a small group of teenagers and had been teased about his swimming abilities. The patient jumped in the water and did not resurface. The teens began yelling for help and drew the attention of a group of novice SCUBA divers that was close by. Andrew Richardson, a dive instructor trainee, immediately swam to the area where the patient had entered the water and began an underwater search for the victim.
The patient was found after approximately three minutes of searching, unconscious and not breathing on the bottom of the lake, in 20 feet of water. Richardson surfaced immediately with the patient and began artificial respirations in the wate, while swimming the patient into shore. The patient was brought up on to the shoreline with the assistance of Dive Instructor Larry Jakes (who had just brought a Scuba class in from a training dive). After several more rescue breathes, the 15 Y.O. began spontaneous breathing on his own.