From the Dallas Morning News comes the story of a firefighter who went above and beyond the call of duty, even though he was off duty.
Out in the family boat on the 4th of July, Jason Horne rescued 3 drowning children trapped under a pontoon boat on Alvarado Lake, in Midlothian.
The paper referenced firefighters’ terminology for rescuing people: “making a grab,” before quoting Horne as admitting he had made the “grab of his career.”
And he wasn’t even wearing the uniform.
Horne recounted the story in an interview. He was on his boat spending time with his 12-year-old daughter on the lake when they saw another boat and a jet ski floating in the distance, with the pilot waving them down.
Then he realized there was a third boat nearby, one he hadn’t seen at first, but which was clearly the wrong side up. Sensing there was the need of a “grab” at hand, Horne told his daughter to sit tight, then jumped in the water and sawm over to the scene.
“The people were all yelling, ‘Our babies are under there,’” Horne recalled. “So, I went around to the side of the boat, dove underneath the boat.”
Two children were trapped underneath, and thankfully their guardians had remembered or insisted that they should wear life jackets. The first ‘grab’ was a boy, clearly dizzy, but breathing. The second was a girl who wasn’t. He pulled her up on top of the pontoon, hoisted himself up beside her, and began to perform chest compressions before hearing that there was a third child underneath as well.
He dove back into the water, without explaining to the Dallas Morning News whether the girl was breathing again, but he couldn’t locate a third child.
There’s only so many places one firefighter can be, but by then some Good Samaritans came by and helped find the third—another boy—who was also unresponsive.
FIREFIGHTERS FIGHTING WATER: Firefighters Heroically Save Man Trying to Rescue His Dog from Icy Boston Lake in Dramatic Video
“He had a bunch of ropes and stuff wrapped around him,” Horne said. “We were able to get him up on the front of that pontoon boat. I did CPR on that little boy up there on the pontoon boat for a few minutes while we were headed back to the boat ramp.”
By the time they reached the ramp, first responders were waiting for them, and rushed all 3 children to the hospital, where they recovered according to a news release by the Alvarado Fire Chief.
MORE HEROIC INDIVIDUALS: Teen Lifesaver Awarded One of Scouting’s Highest Honors After Harrowing Whitewater Rescue
The family later reached out personally to their hero personally, though Horne insisted he is anything but, and that he “was just trying to help those people.”
Same difference Jason, same difference.
COMMEND This Brilliant Rescuer And The Grab Of His Career On Your Socials…
