Residents say they are shocked and concerned after the Hawaiian Gardens Lee Ware Pool reopened to the public on Aug. 12 following a June 30 incident at the facility where a child nearly drowned.

However, staff at the pool say that safety continues to be their top priority as scorching summer temperatures continue to batter Southern California.

A Hawaiian Gardens community member who lives close by the Lee Ware pool, Fidelina Larios, opened up about the concerns of herself and her neighbors wanting to know if new measures will be taken to assure them that their children’s lives will be in safe hands.

She along with her family have attended the aquatic center for years, especially during the summer.

Larios stated that before the incident at Lee Ware Pool, there were too many minor lifeguards who were distracted causing concern for her and others.

The mother of the child who drowned had not notified the staff of the program that her child did not know how to swim.

A young lifeguard, 16, noticed distress in the child and jumped into the water to save the child.

At that moment other staff members jumped into the water along with the minor lifeguard to help the child. The child was then rushed by ambulance to the hospital.

Initially, Hawaiian Gardens declined to comment on the incident, but the city’s spokesperson, Eric Rose, who corroborated the incident, spoke on what happened at Lee Ware Pool.

“A young man needed to be rescued from the pool, he was immediately pulled out from the pool by lifeguards and other individuals.”

Rose did not go into details about the pool manager, Jesse Hernandez, and his current employment status.

Rose did imply that the staff members will remain the same, he also emphasized that the rules and guidelines implemented are very good and that there is no reason to make any changes for the moment.

Rose did clarify that it was a female lifeguard along with the help of other individuals who were able to rescue the 6-year-old child from nearly drowning.

According to Rose the child that nearly drowned was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance on June 30.

“The child is safe and enjoying activities at the Hawaiian Gardens pool again,” Rose clarified.

Another staff member clarified that from now on the Lee Ware Pool will only be open during weekends to the public but no longer during the week and there will be no swimming lessons open until further notice.

The hours for Lee Ware Pool on the weekends for recreational swimming will be from 12:30 p.m. through 4 p.m.