Off Duty Firefighter Risks Life to Save Two From Drowning at Shore

Westfield firefighter Lou Cerchio almost didn't go to the Shore on Sunday. Tired from an all day shift at the firehouse on Saturday, Cerchio finally decided it would be fun to unwind on the beach at Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant Beach.

Getting to the beach at 11:30 a.m., one where he had lifeguarded years before, Cerchio saw the huge waves and knowing the lack of a sand bar created one of the more dangerous conditions around, he knew his family would be spending most of their time out of the water.

"The waves were gigantic and there were no lifeguards," he said. "The waves were huge."

He even gave his kids a warning.

"I told my kids if they got their toes wet we're leaving," Cerchio said.

Forty-five minutes later, Cerchio's slumber on the beach was interrupted when he heard a woman scream behind him while pointing towards the unrelenting Atlantic waves.

"I heard a woman screaming 'Oh My God they need help,'" Cerchio said.

Looking out towards the water, Cerchio could see two bodies struggling to stay afloat. Thinking he'd need to help pull them from the crashing waves, Cerchio stood up and tossed his cell phone to his wife, Lisa, and said he was going to help. At the time Cerchio was wearing cargo shorts, since he had no plans to go swimming.

Getting to the breakers, Cerchio realized the situation was far worse than he thought. He saw the two people, a mother and son, farther out. A man was coming out of the water after trying to help.

"The man was saying 'I couldn't get them, I couldn't get them,'" he said.

Quickly taking off his sunglasses, Cerchio told the man to call 911 and then without even second guessing what he was doing, the six year Westfield firefighter, Scotch Plains resident and former physical education teacher at Roosevelt Intermediate School dove into the water to save the woman and her son who were slowly sliding under the waves.

"It was very difficult, the waves were relentless," he said of the swim out there. "I made it to them and grabbed both, clinging to each other and barely above water."

Little did Cerchio know his own struggle against the churning ocean was just beginning. Holding on to the son, whom he guessed was 12, waves started crashing into the group, pushing them under the water, pulling Cerchio from the pair, threatening the group. Cerchio turned and looked towards shore, hoping others would be able to help.

"I said they are going to be ok and looked back and there was no one in water," he said.

At the time he didn't realize that his wife and many others on the beach had called 911 and the emergency rescue system was swinging into place with lifeguards, police and the Coast Guard being called in. But for the entire rescue, Cerchio was the main person involved.

Complicating efforts were the size of the pair and their swimming ability. Cerchio estimates that the woman was 280 pounds and the son was 140 pounds. Finally communicating with the son – every time Cerchio tried to talk the group was pushed under by a new wave – he found out that while the son could swim the mother could not. During the entire time, the mother remained silent, clearly in shock by the circumstances she found herself in when she went to rescue her son from a wave.

"Once I learned they couldn't swim I said we're going to try to ride a wave in. We got beat up pretty bad," he said. "The boy's shorts which I was holding on to ripped right off his body. They got separated from me two or three times. This poor kid had no clothes on and they were exhausted. They were not screaming for help at all."

Cerchio realized the situation was far worse than anything he had seen during his time as a lifeguard at Jenkinsons. He was used to doing ocean saves with ropes and flotation devices and a team of lifeguards assisting each other. Suddenly he was minus all of those things. It was Cerchio versus the most unrelenting foe of them all – the ocean.

Getting closer to shore, Cerchio could hear others shouting advice to them and trying to help. Suddenly he was able to put a toe down on the ocean floor, now knowing he was able to come closer he tried to pull them in. Then another wave came down crushing them sending them back out.

Riding a wave back in, he saw a man coming towards him with a flotation device, which they used to help bring the mother and son in. But the danger wasn't over. Another wave rushed in that almost brought them all back out to sea. Another wave carried an abandoned yellow surfboard, which almost came crashing down on everyone.

Finally on dry land, Cerchio could only think of one thing.

"Once we got to the beach I collapsed and was exhausted and happy to be on the beach," he said, suddenly finding his pockets full of sand from the ocean floor.

Once on dry land, Cerchio saw others spring in to action. He saw the police and rescue squad there, along with the Coast Guard in the sea. People on the beach rushed to cover the now naked son with towels and blankets. Others made sure the group was safe and not in any more danger.

People started coming up to him hugging him and thanking him for the rescue. He could only think of going back to his family, who witnessed it all. He talked briefly to the mother and son on the beach, but they were being cared for by the local rescue squad.

Lying on the beach and then home in Scotch Plains on Monday, Cerchio can't stop thinking about how close he was to being sucked in himself. Looking back on his experience he remembers trying to stay calm, all the while thinking how he was putting his own life on the line to help two people he had never met, an instinct instilled during his time battling fires in Westfield.

"I was definately scared. I did not think too much when I swam out there, it was instinct. When I got there I thought holy s**t, we are going to have to stay out there for a while," he said. "I didn't panic. I was definately frightened. I thought I have to make it back to the beach as well. Luckily the woman didn't panic and didn't grab me. She was holding onto her son and didn't let go. She was in shock."

Those witnessing Cerchio's heroics from the beach, confirm that he ran in without thinking and the woman and sun would not have made it without him.

"If he wasn't out there they would not have lasted. I watched him run out. I saw him dragging the woman in," said Gina DiGrado of Langhorne, Penn. "He booked out there real quick. The first wave came and then he got out there to the people."

Cerchio said he has not had any experience that close during his time on as a firefighter in town or when he was a lifeguard. He said that the entire lifeguard environment at Jenkinsons seems "controlled" when many are on duty and everyone is prepared for something to happen. During his firefighting career, he has many routine fires, nothing that prepared him to risk his life at the time.

Looking back on Sunday and reflecting on everything that happened, Cerchio said he is convinced that it was more than him out there in the ocean trying to save the mother and son. He thinks he had some help from above.

"You can only pray if you are in harms way there is someone there to help them as well," he said. "There were a lot of things against us. The size of the woman and her son didn't help and the waves. There was definately help from somewhere else that pushed us back in."