COCOA BEACH, Fla. — A quick-thinking lifeguard is being hailed a hero. His effort saved a young couple, after both of them got caught in a rip current.
- Brevard Ocean Rescue lifeguard saves couple from rip current
- Young couple from Ohio got caught up in a rip current near pier
- Lifeguard sprang into action, guiding the couple back to shore
- RELATED: Weather FAQ: Why Are Rip Currents Dangerous?
"My dad told us down by the pier, it's a perfect tourist spot," said Caleb Evans.
He and his longtime girlfriend Shaila Lentz went to the Cocoa Beach Pier for a fun day in the water Tuesday — until they started swimming.
"We look up and we are closer to the pier than we thought we were," Evans told Spectrum News 13. "We are right on the poles and being pushed under."
It was the Ohio couple's first time in the ocean, and they didn't know anything about the rip current warning that day.
"I would have been pushed underwater, it was the only thing I could grab onto," Lentz recalled, referring to one of the pier's piles, holding it up above the water.
The problem was they are covered in dangerously sharp barnacles.
"I screamed," Lentz said.
Manning the lifeguard stand just yards away, Brevard Ocean Rescue lifeguard Lt. Vince Tireli, who was already walking towards the water to warn the couple about being too close to the pier.
"A lot of stuff under there that will cut you up, and the rip current too," Tireli said.
He sprang into action, swimming out to them. Moments later he guided the couple back to shore.
"I had no idea I was bleeding," Lentz said. "No idea I was cut."
Both of them had several large cuts from the sharp barnacles. They were treated at the lifeguard stand.
As they head back home, they want to thank the man who saved their lives.
"Thank you for saving me and my boyfriend, and giving us a lot more years together," Lentz said.
"We are out here to keep people safe," the lifeguard humbly replied.
Lifeguards caution patrons about rip currents and fly the red warning flags when they are present.