REVERE, MASS. (WHDH) - Firefighters jumped into the frigid ocean without wet suits on to rescue a man as his car became submerged in about five feet of water in Revere on Tuesday morning.
Lt. Sean Griffin and firefighter Paul McInnes were responding to a report of a vehicle off the road in the area of North Shore Road and Mills Avenue when they quickly made the decision to run into the ocean with their uniforms on to save the man trapped inside the car.
“Water’s pretty cold and I usually like to wear the wet suit,” Griffin said. “Where it was closer to shore, we know we can make a quicker rescue. That’s why we decided to go in right then and there. It was the right thing in my opinion.”
Griffin and McInnes worked together to pull the conscious and alert man from the vehicle.
“We had to drag him out of the water,” Griffin recalled. “He said he was unable to walk.”
The victim was taken to a local hospital.
“I thought he was joking,” said Frank Ladny, who ways he was stunned to learn the man in this car was his son. He says his son called him from the hospital.
“Says he passed out, and that’s why he veered off the road. He doesn’t know why,” Ladny said.
Authorities believe the man suffered a medical emergency before veering off Route 1A and plunging into the water.
The two firefighters are doing OK.
“It could have been a lot worse because if he was further in the water, it would’ve been a more extensive rescue,” Griffin said.
An investigation is ongoing.
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