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Parents: Metal burns 21-month-old at public pool in Gilbert

Posted at 6:12 PM, Jul 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-21 21:12:05-04

Changes will be made at a Gilbert public pool after a family said their little boy was badly burned on an in-ground metal door near the pool deck.

“He got burned… on his little hand and the side of his leg and his foot,” David Williams said of his 21-month-old son Cameron.

Williams’ wife, Shannon, was with Cameron Wednesday at Perry Pool, near Val Vista Drive and Queen Creek Road, Williams said.

Shannon was in the water, waiting for Cameron to jump in after her, when the toddler walked over to the closed metal door, which opens out of the ground to reveal pool machinery.  The door is in a grassy area beyond the concrete walkway around the pool.

The “few seconds” that Cameron sat on the metal led to blistering burns, David said.

"You don't really expect to get metal plates out there that essentially get [to] the heat of the stove,” Williams said.

The pool opened in 2008, and this is the first such incident at the pool that staff is aware of, according to Jennifer Alvarez, a Gilbert spokesperson. The pool closes for the season Saturday, but a fix is in the works to somehow cover or restrict access to the metal door, Alvarez said.

The galvanized steel door is meant to support the weight of mowers and foot traffic, Alvarez said.