Silhouette of Extreme watercraft. Photo: Douglas Sacha (Getty)
It’s not very often the words “hero” and “Florida Man” are found in the same sentence. Hence, this should be a day to remember, as one citizen managed to extinguish a dangerous boat fire with his jet ski.
According to WPEC, Bret Townsend is a certified EMT, soon-to-be paramedic and jet ski owner. It all came full circle for him Sunday afternoon when he saw a boat on the sandbar in Tequesta go up in smoke. Watch as Townsend jumped on his jet ski to put out the fire while everybody else just sat and watched the vessel burn. OK, some pulled out their cellphones to record it.
“My concern was the boat was going to blow off to the side, maybe catch something else on fire or get down into the fuel tank, maybe explode or leak oil into the water,” Townsend said.
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Despite warnings the boat could explode from the local fire department, Townsend continued to do his thing until every flame was extinguished.
“I look for reasons to help people. I get a lot of pride out of that,” he said.
Truly amazing. As you have read many times on Mandatory, Florida dudes usually take pride in running into strangers’ houses buck naked while covered in their own excrement (but sometimes just mud). It’s great to see somebody from there in the news for essentially the exact opposite reasons.
