Firefighter Saves 3 Kids Trapped Under Capsized Boat

Jason Horne was spending Fourth of July with his 12-year-old daughter Emilie on Alvarado Park Lake when frantic boaters started waving for help. A boat had capsized, and three children were trapped underneath.

Horne, a firefighter and medic with the Midlothian Fire Department, didn't wait for emergency crews. He jumped into the water and swam toward the overturned vessel while his daughter watched from their boat.

Underwater visibility was nearly zero beneath the dark hull. Horne reached up blindly, feeling for anything he could grab, and his hand found a life jacket.

He pulled out a young boy who was still breathing and immediately dove back under. On his second dive, he felt a leg and surfaced with an unresponsive girl.

Standing on the flat bottom of the capsized boat, Horne began CPR. Moments later, the girl started breathing again.

But one child was still missing. Horne dove back into the murky water, coming up empty on his first attempt.

As other boaters worked together to flip the vessel upright, the third child surfaced from the side. Anchor rope was wrapped around his body, and he wasn't breathing.

Horne restored the boy's pulse and rushed him to shore, where emergency responders had just arrived. All three children were taken to a local hospital with no additional life threatening injuries reported.

Sunny's Take

For Horne, a father of four himself, the emotional weight didn't hit until the emergency was over. "For my children's sake I was trying to keep myself together," he said, tearing up in the boat with his wife beside him.

The Alvarado Police Department praised Horne's courage and the teamwork of bystanders who helped during the rescue. His daughter Emilie will never forget watching her dad dive into action without hesitation.

Horne said he's simply grateful that everything aligned to put him in the right place at the right moment: "I'm glad that whatever lined up, lined up that we were where we were when we were there."

Three families got to take their children home that night because one person refused to wait.