Off-duty firefighter rescues 3 children trapped under pontoon boat on Alvarado Lake

Midlothian, Texas: An off-duty firefighter is being hailed as a hero after rescuing three drowning children trapped beneath a pontoon boat on Alvarado Lake on the 4th of July.

Jason Horne was out on his family boat with his 12-year-old daughter when he saw another boat and a jet ski with the pilot waving for help. He then spotted a third boat flipped over nearby.

Using firefighters’ term for a rescue — “making a grab” — Horne told his daughter to stay put, jumped into the water and swam to the scene. “The people were all yelling, ‘Our babies are under there,’” Horne told the Dallas Morning News. “So, I went around to the side of the boat, dove underneath the boat.”

Underneath, he found two children. Both were wearing life jackets. The first was a boy who was dizzy but breathing. The second was a girl who was not breathing. Horne pulled her onto the pontoon and began chest compressions.

When he learned a third child was also trapped, he dove back under. He couldn’t locate the boy, but other Good Samaritans arrived and helped. They found another boy with ropes wrapped around him and brought him to the surface.