An off-duty firefighter is being credited with saving the lives of three children after a boat carrying nine people overturned on a North Texas lake during the holiday weekend.
The incident happened Saturday evening at Alvarado Park Lake, according to the Alvarado Police Department.
Authorities said the boat capsized with nine people aboard, leaving three children trapped underneath the overturned vessel. Two of the children were found unresponsive.
Firefighter Rescues Children Before Crews Arrive
Police said an off-duty firefighter who was already on the lake immediately responded before emergency crews arrived.
The firefighter, later identified as Midlothian Fire Department medic and firefighter Jason Horne, swam beneath the overturned boat in search of the children.
“I went underwater, under the boat, reached up, seeing if I could grab anything, and I felt a life jacket,” Horne said, WFAA reported.
He pulled a young boy from the water before diving back beneath the boat.
“I took a breath, dove underneath the boat again, reached like I did the first time and I grabbed a leg,” Horne said.
He found an unresponsive young girl and began CPR on the overturned boat. Officials said she began breathing after he resuscitated her.
Horne then returned to search for a third child. Other boaters helped roll the vessel over, allowing another boy to surface.
“He had a bunch of anchor line rope wrapped around his body,” Horne said.
The child was not breathing, but Horne said he was able to restore the boy’s pulse before transporting all three children to a nearby dock, where first responders were waiting.
Children Hospitalized
Alvarado police said all three children were taken to a hospital for evaluation and observation. No additional life-threatening injuries were reported.
Authorities did not release the names of the children out of respect for their privacy.
Police Praise Rescue Effort
The Alvarado Police Department credited the firefighter’s quick actions with making a critical difference during the emergency.
“We are incredibly grateful for the courageous and selfless actions of the off-duty firefighter whose immediate response made a critical difference during this emergency,” the department said in a statement, per WFAA. “His willingness to act without hesitation exemplifies the very best of the public safety profession.”
Police also recognized the efforts of other first responders and bystanders who assisted during the rescue.
Firefighter Reflects on Rescue
Horne, who has served with the Midlothian Fire Department for two decades and is the father of four children, said the incident caused him to become emotional after the rescue was over.
“For my children’s sake I was trying to keep myself together after it was over,” Horne said, per WFAA. “I had a little emotional moment in the boat when it was just me and my wife. It’s a little emotional now.”
Looking back on the incident, Horne said he was grateful to have been in the right place at the right time.
“I’m glad that whatever lined up, lined up that we were where we were when we were there,” he said.
