Fountain Valley 7-year-old honored for life-saving actions in near-drowning incident

Danger could present itself at any time, compelling emergency authorities to remind residents to be prepared to take action when necessary.

That message recently hit home for one Fountain Valley family, as the actions of 7-year-old Olivia Clay saved an infant’s life in a near-drowning incident.

Olivia was recognized for her heroics Tuesday during the Fountain Valley City Council meeting. Fire Chief Bill McQuaid got emotional as he described, and then showed video footage of, Olivia’s quick actions when her young cousin, Paisley, fell into her family’s backyard pool.

In the video, Olivia can be seen closely following Paisley chasing after a dog. The infant falls into the water, and Olivia goes in after her, before alerting other family members to the danger with her screams. Paisley’s mother, Jillian, responding to the cries for help, leaps into the pool after the kids, and Olivia’s father, Brandin, pulls Paisley out.

“Olivia did her best,” McQuaid said. “She tried to reach out and grab her, stop her. She wasn’t able to do that, but in the process, she followed her right into the water. At that point, she had a choice. She could have taken care of herself, swam to the side. She’s in her clothes, scared, but that’s not what she did.

“She stopped, she gained her composure, kind of grabbed the side of the wall, grabbed Paisley by the feet and drug Paisley to the side to rescue her. When she did, she got to the side of the pool where she could stabilize herself. She started screaming for help. She did the right thing and took action.”

Olivia received certificates of recognition from the fire department and Mayor Kim Constantine, the latter telling her, “You are such a hero. Thank you so much for doing that.”

Members of the fire department also gifted Olivia a stuffed animal, and she was invited to explore and take pictures on the ladder truck.

The incident occurred on May 25, Brandin Clay said. Olivia completed the second grade at Courreges Elementary on Thursday.

“It’s been very emotional,” Brandin said in a phone interview. “I still can’t watch it, or frankly talk much about it, without getting choked up. It was a tough one. … I have a background in the ocean. I was a Navy diver, worked as a water survival instructor for three years as I got out of the military, and I’ve seen grown men in the water, with their clothes on, not be able to do this. It tugs on me a little bit.”

McQuaid also presented on drowning prevention. He shared that drowning is the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4, and it is second only to motor vehicle accidents for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Across the nation, there are approximately 4,000 fatal drownings per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What’s important to recognize is drowning is preventable, and it really starts with layers of protection and things that we can do to prevent these tragic incidents from happening,” McQuaid said. “The protection starts with providing physical barriers, fences around pools. It’s further protected by placing alarms on doors in houses, so that if a kid is to open the door and go out, the alarm goes off, notifies the parents.

“Another layer of protection is anti-entrapment drain covers, so young kids don’t get their hair and clothing stuck in a Jacuzzi — the suctions — the drains and stuff like that. These things are all preventable and things that we can focus on. The next is supervision. It’s important that people keep their eyes on their kids and they stay aware of what’s going on, mainly in crowded pools and areas.”

Additional measures that McQuaid encouraged residents to take were to teach kids not to walk around a pool without an adult, to have kids take swim lessons at an early age and to learn CPR.