Two days into summer, as measured by the last day of school, it was sunny and warm, about 75 degrees.

Can you come out and play? Sue and Glenn Widmer’s three kids were asked by some neighbor friends, a routine request.

Ellie, Anthony and Jackson were on their way, with admonitions from Mom: Don’t go near the pond. Look both ways. Stay together as a group.

And look after your sister.

The kids played air hockey in the garage and played at the small park next to the pond, checking in every few minutes. Then Widmer noticed they weren’t coming in. She decided to finish what she was doing, then check on them. She heard a knock on the front door.

Standing there were her neighbor Jansy Peternell and Ellie and Anthony, dripping wet.

“They looked like they had gotten out of the shower and hadn’t toweled off,” Widmer said.

Soon, Widmer would learn that Ellie, her 5-year-old daughter, nearly drowned in a detention pond near their east Renton home.

She survived because 8-year-old Anthony was able to hold onto Ellie, even though she got heavier as she lost consciousness, and Peternell sensed there was something wrong at the pond across the street from her house. All was quiet; she had heard no cry for help.

Now the neighborhood of 23 homes is trying to convince the City of Renton to build a fence around the detention pond. Peternell has lived with her family in the neighborhood since 2006, one of the original homeowners.

The neighborhood was in unincorporated King County then. The banks of the pond weren’t steep enough to require fencing under county regulations. For the past several weeks, the City of Renton has been reviewing its own regulations regarding stormwater ponds. Fencing the pond is a possibility.

Peternell is concerned that any changes in the regulations could come too late.

“If there is an unfenced pond and it’s a hot day, a child could die,” Peternell said.

Peternell doesn’t normally walk over to the pond. But this day, Thursday, June 21, she had a feeling that she needed to go there now.

She figures it took about a minute to walk to the pond. She saw Anthony going under the water. He popped up, then went under again. Where’s Ellie? she asked Jackson.

Ellie is under the water and Anthony is trying to save her was the answer.

It took her about 30 seconds to figure out what was going on.

Peternell ran into the pond, which is about 5 feet deep. She lifted up Anthony. “Thankfully, he was holding onto Ellie,” she said.

This week, Anthony described how he held onto Ellie, pointing to a patch of weeds several feet out in the pond. His head was right under her chin. He yelled for help, but his brother didn’t understand him.

“She got heavier and heavier and heavier,” he said. Widmer said Ellie weighs about 68 pounds.

Anthony told his mother later that he held on so tight because he couldn’t imagine life without his little sister.

Ellie had been under water for at least a minute or two. Three boys were watching from the bank, including one who had dared Ellie to go into the pond to fetch a ball.

“I remember looking down and seeing her hair floating under the water,” Peternell said. “I didn’t know whether she would be alive or not when I pulled her out. I didn’t know.”

She pulled up Anthony and he pulled on Ellie, who immediately popped to the surface. Ellie was unconscious, her eyes were rolling into her head.

Holding both kids, Peternell smacked Ellie on the back. “I really didn’t know to do that. I just did it,” she said.

Ellie started coughing. Peternell carried both kids to the bank. She could barely touch the bottom of the pond.

By now Ellie was crying. They ran to Widmer’s front door. Peternell told Widmer that one of her kids almost died.

Peternell had yelled for one of the boys to call 911, but he panicked and didn’t. Widmer didn’t realize immediately the seriousness of what happened, but she soon did.

Widmer decided to take Ellie to their pediatrician after Peternell told her Ellie had swallowed a lot of what Widmer called “disgusting water.” On the way, she called Peternell to thank her. Peternell was concerned because Ellie had lost consciousness and had been under water.

That’s when she realized that Ellie had nearly died. Her pediatrician told her she probably should have called 911. The doctor checked Ellie’s lungs and vitals. She was fine. Ellie also had an X ray at Children’s Hospital and was observed there.

City spokeswoman Preeti Shridhar said this week that public works officials have looked at the pond. City code also doesn’t require a fence around the pond, because the banks aren’t steep enough to warrant one.

Most of the city’s stormwater ponds are steep enough to require fencing.

The city has 101 surface-water ponds, she said. There are 55 retention ponds of this type that are fenced. Fifteen are not fenced; they are the ones that have annexed into the city.

The city is now considering the recommendations of the review of the ponds. A capital request could be made to pay for fencing.

Shridhar pointed out that there are hundreds of such ponds in the county and not all of them are fenced.

“We want people to be safe,” she said. It’s important for parents to keep their children safe around water, she said.

She pointed out that 911 wasn’t called, something people should do when there is an accident or potential drowning.