Off-Duty Firefighter Makes the “Grab of His Career,” Saving Three Children
A joyful Fourth of July outing became an extraordinary display of courage and compassion when an off-duty North Texas firefighter helped rescue three children from beneath an overturned pontoon boat.
Jason Horne was boating with his 12-year-old daughter on Alvarado Lake near Midlothian when they noticed a jet ski rider in the distance waving for assistance. As Horne approached, he spotted another vessel nearby—an overturned pontoon boat surrounded by distressed families.
Horne immediately asked his daughter to remain safely in their boat before diving into the water and swimming toward 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.”
Beneath the pontoon, he discovered two children. Their life jackets had helped keep them afloat in the air pocket under the vessel. Horne first brought out a boy who appeared disoriented but was still breathing. He then rescued a girl who was unresponsive.
After lifting her onto the overturned pontoon, Horne climbed up beside her and began chest compressions. That was when he learned another child remained trapped below.
Without hesitation, he returned to the water and searched beneath the boat. Although he could not initially locate the third child, other Good Samaritans soon arrived and joined the rescue effort. Together, they found another boy entangled in ropes and equipment.
“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.”
First responders were ready when the rescuers reached shore. All three children were taken to the hospital and later recovered, according to a news release from the Alvarado fire chief.
Firefighters sometimes call rescuing someone “making a grab.” Horne described this remarkable rescue as the “grab of his career”—made while he was off duty and out of uniform.
The grateful family later contacted Horne personally. Still, he declined to call himself a hero and said he “was just trying to help those people.”
His humility only adds to the goodness of an unforgettable act that brought families, strangers, and first responders together to save three young lives.
