MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Swimming is one of the many ways that residents within Meridian Township beat the heat. Whether heading to your neighborhood pool, the lake, or any open body of water, it is important to practice water safety. 

Bill Priese, EMS/Training Chief for the Meridian Township Fire Department, describes the necessity of a flotation device and paying close attention to your child.

"If you have your child in the water, always be with them. Make sure they have some type of a flotation device on so if something was to happen and they were to trip and fall in the water, they wouldn’t go under. They would stay up above the water."

The use of flotation devices may seem like an easy fix to make sure that the child is safe when playing in the water, but there are more precautions that need to take place in order to guarantee that the child is safe and to prevent them from drowning.

Lake Lansing Lifeguard, Catherine Boisin was passionate in describing the importance of learning to swim along with using life vests.

"Sometimes when you're wearing a life vest, you get a false sense of security and you end up going out too far and you can still, sounds kinda scary but you can still drown wearing a life jacket. So it's important to stay within the shallow region."

Being out in the sun and having a good time, it is possible to become overheated and jumping into the pool or lake to cool down might not do the job.


"Be careful if you're real tired, been laying out in the sun and you're real hot and dehydrated," Priese mentioned. "Because when you go in the water, you're gonna burn a lot of calories off and you can get dehydrated even if you're in the water."

There are a range of water activities and sports that people can be a part of this summer. Water safety needs to be taken into consideration at all times.