A juvenile was taken to the hospital in serious condition Saturday after a possible drowning off Antioch Road in the Long Farm Village neighborhood of St. George, officials said. The child's age has not been released, and officials have not said whether the incident happened at a private pool, the neighborhood's community pool, or its stocked fishing lake.
The incident was first reported by WBRZ, which cited officials in confirming the juvenile was involved in a possible drowning and transported to the hospital in serious condition. Long Farm Village is a master-planned community built around shared green space that includes a neighborhood pool, a clubhouse, and a central stocked fishing lake, according to the development's own description of the property. Hoodline previously covered the neighborhood's growing retail scene along Antioch Road.
Fire Crews Stationed Minutes Away
St. George Fire Protection District No. 2 operates Fire Station 63 at 7027 Antioch Road, putting dedicated first responders directly along the same corridor as the neighborhood, according to background information on the department. The station is one of eight run by the St. George Fire Department, which maintains specialized water rescue gear, including fins, goggles, and snorkels, and trains jointly with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office dive team, per a report from WBRZ on the department's water rescue capabilities. That training allows firefighters to begin water searches within two to three minutes of arriving on scene, the same report noted.
Emergency medical response in the area falls to East Baton Rouge Parish EMS, which operates under clinical guidelines emphasizing rapid airway stabilization and outcome-based treatment for pediatric submersion emergencies rather than rigid step-by-step protocols, according to the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. The response fell within the newly formed City of St. George, which the Louisiana Supreme Court authorized to incorporate in a 4-3 ruling in April 2024 following years of litigation over local boundaries and services, per Wikipedia's account of the legal dispute. That decision split St. George off from unincorporated East Baton Rouge Parish, though coordination between the city's fire department and parish EMS continues for emergency calls.
Part of a Troubling Summer Pattern
The Long Farm Village call comes weeks after another severe juvenile near-drowning in East Baton Rouge Parish. On June 30, emergency crews responded to a critical incident at the Waters at Bluebonnet apartment complex on Bluebonnet Boulevard, which left a youth hospitalized in critical condition, WBRZ reported at the time. Regionally, an in-home daycare operator in neighboring Ascension Parish was arrested for negligent homicide in June 2024 after a 3-year-old drowned at the home, according to the same outlet's coverage of area drowning cases.
Statewide numbers help explain why officials are on alert each summer. Louisiana Department of Health data released in May showed 55 children drowned in the state between 2022 and 2024, with 65% of those drownings happening without adult supervision and 58% occurring in swimming pools; the health department also noted 54 additional children were hospitalized for nonfatal drownings during that period. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies drowning as the leading cause of death nationwide for children ages 1 to 4, and the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury death for Louisiana children ages 0 to 14, with the state's child drowning rate exceeding the national average.
State Pushes Supervision Campaign
In response to the pattern, the Louisiana Department of Health launched its #GetASwimPlan campaign in June, urging caregivers to assign a dedicated “Water Watcher” who rotates every 15 minutes, avoid phone distractions while supervising children near water, and install 4-foot pool barrier fences with self-latching gates. Officials have not said whether adult supervision was present at the time of Saturday's incident in Long Farm Village, and the juvenile's updated medical condition has not been released.
