WFTV.com
PALM BAY, Fla. — An off-duty Palm Bay firefighter said he was just in the right place at the right time when he rescued four people and a dog from an overturned vessel during a trip on his boat with his family.
Firefighter Cliff Schoonmaker, a 30-year-veteran with Palm Bay Fire Rescue, was traveling back from a boating trip in the Bahamas earlier this month when his daughter spotted something that she thought was odd in the distance.
Schoonmaker went off course to see what it was and quickly realized it was an overturned boat near the Fort Pierce Inlet. A woman was lying on top of the boat and three others were clinging to the side, along with a dog that was thrashing in the water.
Full story: Off-duty Palm Bay firefighter rescues family from capsized boat