A recent scare that could have turned tragic made Dwight Siemens and his wife, Mary, do something they had never done in the 10 years they've lived in their home: they decided to enclose their pool.

The couple has sons who grew up in the home. The youngest is now a senior in high school, and the idea of a fence or other type of safety barrier hadn't crossed their minds before.

"We've had hundreds and hundreds of kids out here and never had any incidents," says Dwight Siemens, a 51-year-old label manufacturer.

Then a recent church group gathering at their home forced them to think about safety barriers. A toddler accidentally fell into the pool. Luckily, an adult saw the child fall in and fished him out immediately, so no harm was done.

Findings in a recent government report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission supported the couple's decision, showing an increase in the number of children who drown in pools and spas. The report stated that an estimated 19 children under the age of 5 died in pool and spa incidents in 2005, the latest year for which the agency held documentation for. That total was 74 more deaths than the year before.

"It was pretty traumatic," Dwight said. "There was no tragedy, but we didn't want to wait for that."

No matter when your swimming pool was built or whether you have young children, fences and other safety barriers - along with adult supervision - can help prevent drownings.

New and remodeled pools

A decade ago, the state of California enacted the Swimming Pool Safety Act, which required any new swimming pools to have at least one approved safety barrier, such as a fence, a cover or an alarm on any door leading directly to the pool. It was amended in 2006 to allow pool alarms and removable mesh fencing as safety barrier options, and suction outlets were required to have anti-entrapment covers. It affected all swimmingpools and spas that needed permits to be built or remodeled after Jan. 1, 2007.

Local residents constructing a new pool or doing a major remodel also should check local building codes to see what safeguards are acceptable. They can vary slightly from the state's requirements, which can be found at the California Department of Public Health Web site, http://www.cdph.ca.gov, or by searching for "2006 California Pool Safety Act."

Among the acceptable options and requirements by the state, with descriptions from the Web site, are:

Enclosures: A fence, wall or other barrier with a minimum height of 60 inches; gates opening away from the pool that are self-closing with a self-latching device placed no lower than 60 inches; no vertical gaps that allow a 4-inch diameter ball to pass through; no more than a 2-inch gap between the bottom of the enclosure and the ground; the outside surface must be free of any features that might allow a child to use handholds or footholds.

Removable fences: They must have a self-closing, self-latching gate that can accommodate a key-lockable device. The fence also must meet standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). In Ventura County, these fences have to be secured in a permanent fashion - one that requires adults to use tools to remove them.

Safety pool covers: Manual or automatic covers that meet ASTM standards.

Pool alarms: Alarms, including surface-motion, pressure, sonar, laser and infrared types, that will go off when they detect accidental or unauthorized entrance into the water. They also must meet ASTM standards.

Exit alarms: All doors or windows that allow direct access from the home to the pool have alarms that go off when opened or left ajar.

Door safety: All doors that allow direct access from the home to pool must have a self-closing, self-latching device, with the release mechanism placed no lower than 54 inches above the floor.

These safety measures are intended to protect children 5 years old or younger. Some of these barriers, such as alarms for pools and doors, can be bought at some pool-supply stores. For example, door alarms start at $29.99 and pool alarms start at $159.99 at Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies.

Other barriers, such as pool covers, removable fences and other enclosures, must be ordered from manufacturers or vendors. Costs will vary, depending upon the product and size.

Older pools

For backyard swimming pools that were built before 1998, generally a fence was the main requirement.

"Regulations require a fence 5 feet high as measured from the outside of the fence and no spaces over 4 inches," said Joe Martinez, district manage for the Ventura County Building and Safety Division. But the requirements have "evolved over time."

"An older pool that was permitted shouldn't need any retrofitting," he said. "I've been here for 20 years, and it's been the same standard as long as I can remember." However, he says there are other precautions that homeowners may now required to take, and recommends consulting a professional.

Bruce Radford, owner and operator of Pool Guard in Ventura and Santa Barbara the regulations put into place in recent years are pretty much standard in a new home, but with renovations, he recommends completing the entire project with a final safety check.

"If you remodel your pool, you can come up to code with alarms and enclosures," he said. "With all of the foreclosures in Simi and in Newbury Park, we are seeing a lot of young families moving into new homes with (young children) that have pools. And it only makes sense for them to come up to code with safety features."

Many homeowners with older pools desire to protect loved ones or guests as best they can, which leads them to install safety barriers. Many opt for a fence. While the fence can be wrought-iron, chain-link or even wood, many are choosing mesh fences, which often are made of a polyester material that has been coated with polyvinyl.

"The easiest barrier is obviously a fence, because it is a 24 / 7, 365 day-a-year protection," Radford said. "But we do have the option of covers and nets as well."

Mesh nets are becoming a popular alternative to the traditional wrought iron gates because they keep the yard open, unlike a fence which might make a small yard even more confining, and they allow for the continued use of water features that a full cover would block.

If you decide to go with a mesh fence, they often come in several colors, including black, brown, green, tan and white.

Whether you decide to install a mesh fence or a different kind of safety barrier, adult supervision is still a must.

The Ventura County Office of Education released a list of important safety tips for homeowners and families who decide to take the plunge into the pool or spa. In the information packet they included statistics explaining that "the majority of children who drown in swimming pools were last seen in a home, had been out of sight for less than five minutes, and were in the care of both parents at the time."

They point out that in the 10 seconds it takes to cross the room and grab a towel, a child can be submerged. In the two minutes it takes to answer the phone, that child can lose consciousness. In the six minutes it takes to sign for a package at the front door, the child will have sustained permanent brain damage. And it is important to remember that 66 percent of these incidents occur between May and August.

So as summer arrives, Radford recommends protecting your loved ones with both a sound safety barrier and constant supervision.

For pets, too

Finding a beloved pet dead in the backyard swimming pool can be just as heartbreaking.

It's one reason some opt to install fences is to protect their pets.

"I do fences from 2- to 5-feet high," Radford said. "And I probably do two shorter fences a month for puppy's or pets.

"It's just ... as traumatic when they lose a dog," he said.

While cats can drown, too, dogs, especially puppies, are more likely to end up in the pool, says Jo Amenda, a dog trainer and owner of Academy Dog Training. "Puppies have a tendency to chase around something and slip into the pool," she said.

Radford said often a dog will panic in a pool and don't know how to get out.

"Put a 100 pound dog in the pool, and once they are wet, they can't get out," he said.

Besides putting a fence around your pool, you also can do a couple of things to acquaint your dog with a body of water.

"The best thing is prevention, and then education when the dogs are around 6 months, depending upon the breeds," she says. "When they're little, you can take them to a lake and walk in the shallow water. ... In nature, they'd walk into a bank or stream and its gentle slopes, and that's where they'd learn to swim.

"But in a pool, there's no bottom. Their feet can't touch the bottom, and then they panic. ... Then they go to the nearest side (of the pool), and they can't get out. They exhaust themselves and drown."

During the summers, she also suggests putting out a baby wading pool. It helps dogs become comfortable with water, and also provides the animals with water to drink during a hot day. Then hire a professional dog trainer who can teach the dogs to swim and exit the pool, she says.

"It's a gradual process where the dog learns to enjoy the water, not to panic and how to get out," she says. "Don't toss them into the pool. That'll just terrify them."

(Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Cheryl Ellis contributed to this report.)