Man uses jet ski to put out boat fire in Florida

TEQUESTA, Fla. (WPEC) - A Florida man is being hailed a hero for taking action when he says no one else would.

Bret Townsend, a certified EMT and soon-to-be paramedic, jumped on a jet ski and headed toward the smoke after he saw a boat in flames Sunday afternoon.

A boat filled with gasoline caught fire near a sandbar in Tequesta. Townsend checked and everyone was off the boat, but he wasn’t done quite yet.

“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,” he said.

So, he drove the jet ski toward the boat as fast as possible, then turned at the last second to spray water onto the burning boat.

He sprayed the blaze for about 10 minutes from his jet ski before the black smoke turned to white, then altogether went out.

Townsend is graduating from paramedic school in July and is hoping to land a job with Palm Beach Fire Rescue.