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By AMY CALDER
Staff Writer Thursday, June 14, 2007

Zyah Denis, of Prescott Valley, Ariz., was found in the backyard pool of his great-grandparents' 83 West River Road home after emergency workers conducted a frantic search for the boy, Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey said.

A spokeswoman at the state Medical Examiner's Office said Wednesday afternoon that she could not yet provide a cause of the child's death, as a release from a doctor had not been received.

Meanwhile, fire officials claimed Wednesday that they were delayed in responding to the call because of changes made three years ago to the city's dispatch protocol. Police officials disputed that claim, saying that protocol had no bearing on Tuesday's incident.

Massey said the boy and his mother, Casey Denis, had been visiting the West River Road home, owned by Al Stedman, for about a week.

Contacted early Wednesday evening, Stedman's comment was brief.

"It was a serious tragedy, especially for a young life," he said.

Police received a 911 call from Casey Denis at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, saying her 6-year-old son was missing, that he was wearing Army pants and a military-colored Gap shirt and that she had seen him five minutes earlier, according to the police log.

Two officers went to the house, with the first arriving at 12:34 p.m., the log states. They searched the house, garage, vehicles, yard, a neighbor's home and other areas they thought the boy may have been hiding in, Massey said.

"Then they noticed the swimming pool in the backyard and that became an area of concern," he said.

He said there was a fence around the pool.

Sgt. Jeffrey Bearce jumped into the water and searched as best he could, according to Massey.

"His initial sweep of the pool didn't find anything. ... You couldn't see more than a couple of inches into the water because it was so discolored from sitting there, like most pools are," Massey said.

Massey said the scene became emotionally-charged as the search for the child intensified and firefighters arrived.

Firefighters Cory Wyman and Rodney Alderman went into the pool with Bearce, shoulder-to-shoulder, to do a grid-type search. Wyman, 28, said he found the boy near a drain on the bottom of the deep end of the pool.

"I went down, hit the floor of the pool, felt around," Wyman said. "My eyes were closed -- you couldn't see anything. I remember feeling leaves and debris in the bottom of the pool. I remember finding the victim. I pulled him up."

Fire Capt. David LaFountain said Dave Melancon, an off-duty firefighter/emergency medical technician who had responded to the scene, performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the child and took him in a Delta Ambulance to Inland Hospital. Massey said the child was flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor around 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, Fire Department officials say that they believe the outcome could possibly have been different had they been called sooner.

"I think the child would have had a much better chance," LaFountain said Wednesday.

He said firefighters never were dispatched to the scene -- that police called them to ask for wet suits, and that is when fire officials first learned of the incident.

Firefighters made the decision to go, as they sensed it was a serious situation that required skilled divers, according to LaFountain, who said he was not at the scene.

LaFountain said he believes procedural changes made three years ago designating that firefighters respond only to specific types of calls should be reviewed. He said before those changes were made, firefighters responded to all calls.

"I would say I think that many of the procedures are flawed and put people at risk," LaFountain said.

But police dispute his contention, saying the protocol changes had nothing to do with what occurred Tuesday; that the protocol has only to do with medical emergencies and not calls such as those involving missing persons.

Massey and Police Chief John Morris issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that says they did ask for a person with a wet suit -- not just a wet suit itself.

"The officer on scene asked to dispatch someone with a wet suit to check the pool," the statement says. "The Police Department would welcome assistance from the Waterville Fire Department in any missing person call. They do not have to wait until a police officer requests their assistance."

The statement also indicates that in 2004 the city, in conjunction with state EMS Director Steve Diaz, developed a two-tier protocol for responding to medical emergencies.

"Our response to yesterday's incident was consistent with the medical protocol established in 2004," it says. "Our response has been to dispatch an officer(s) in missing person cases to assess the situation and determine what course of action is appropriate."

But LaFountain said 31 minutes elapsed between the time the 911 call was made until the boy was pulled from the rectangular pool, which was about 20-by-40-feet, at 12:51 p.m -- three minutes after firefighters arrived to help with the search. While police typically handle a missing persons call, usually they ask for help from firefighters if water is involved, he said.

But firefighters say they did not learn of the incident until 12:42 p.m. At that time, police "called here looking for wet suits, still not asking for help," LaFountain said.

"Rescue left here at 12:42 p.m. or 12:43 p.m. and arrived at 12:48 p.m. When they called for wet suits, they called on a regular phone."

The police log reflects an officer at 12:42 p.m. "requesting someone with a wet suit to check the pool," and a request at 12:51 p.m.: "Need Delta the child is in the pool." A chaplain was requested at 12:52 p.m.

LaFountain said he believes that, at the moment a decision was made to search the pool, firefighters should have been called.

"That's when they should have called the Fire Department because we're trying to find the people, but also when we find the people, to intervene and give the person the best chance to survive and in my opinion, that didn't happen this time. The biggest problem we have is delays and this new system that was incorporated, we are getting delayed all the time on calls -- car accidents, smoke investigations."

He said statistics indicate firefighters respond to fewer calls with the new system. Three years ago, they responded to about 3,000 calls; so far this year, they have responded to only 866, according to LaFountain.

Wyman said his training in search and rescue taught him to go to "target hazards" first when responding to a call for a missing child.

"A pool is a target hazard," he said. "When you do a search you check places most dangerous -- most life-threatening -- so we would check the pool first. The chance of his getting hurt in the house is limited as compared to a pool or the trunk of a car."

He and other firefighters went through a de-briefing Tuesday night and were scheduled to go through another one Wednesday night. Wyman said he has young children and the memory of Tuesday's incident stays with him.

"It's not unusual after a call like that that you're putting your son or grandchild's face on the victim and it can't help but take a toll," Wyman said.

The child died around 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to both Massey and LaFountain.

Meanwhile, Massey said all emergency personnel worked very hard to find the boy, who was not very familiar with his surroundings, and later, to try to save the child's life. He said he has the highest regard for all who responded, including police, firefighters and Delta personnel.

"As someone standing there watching how feverishly they worked on this youngster, you couldn't help but become emotional," he said.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

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