Kelby Perren
While Amber Perren, 27, knelt in a shallow area of the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Florida, on July 23, 2025, an 8.5-foot-long alligator approached her in the murky water and, without warning, clamped onto her right arm and hand. It dragged her toward deeper water, while she splashed, screamed, and punched the alligator with her free hand. Amber’s husband Kelby Perren, a 33-year-old power generation engineer from Palm City, Florida, was on the nearby beach when he saw her thrashing in the water. Thinking, he later said, she might have been attacked by a shark, Perren ran to his wife and grasped her around her waist. Feeling something thrash against his leg and jerk Amber away from him, he pulled again with force, yanking Amber free from the alligator’s jaws. The Perrens boarded their boat, and Perren called 911 while navigating to a nearby dock, where they were met by first-responders. Amber was ultimately flown by medical helicopter to a hospital, where she remained for six days for treatment of two broken bones in her forearm. Although she later regained motion in her injured arm, numbness persisted as she continued to heal.
Ezekiel Fox
As a tent in a homeless encampment caught fire, smoke billowed across a Hamilton, Ontario, roadway on Jan. 5, 2025. Shawn Goodwin, 53, was entangled in a tarp inside the burning tent as flames intensified. Driving nearby was 17-year-old Ezekiel Fox, a Hamilton high schooler, who pulled over and heard Goodwin shout for help. Ezekiel phoned his parents as he approached the tent when something exploded and flames shot into the sky. Despite his mother’s warnings not to enter the burning tent, Ezekiel saw that the entrance flap of the tent was open and told his father he was going in. Throwing his phone aside, he pulled back the flap and ran inside. Ezekiel found Goodwin about 7 feet from the door. He tried to grab Goodwin’s arms, but Goodwin’s injuries made it difficult to maintain his grip. Ezekiel instead grabbed Goodwin under the arms and walked backward, dragging him to safety. Flames engulfed the tent as Ezekiel continued to drag Goodwin 15 feet from the tent. Ezekiel rolled Goodwin, who was severely burned, in snow to stop the burning. Goodwin was hospitalized for severe burns and spent months recovering. Ezekiel was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and released the following morning.
Gary M. Simard, deceased, and Kenny Crosby
Twelve-year-old Gary J. Simard was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off Salisbury, Massachusetts, on Sept. 20, 2023, when a rip current pulled him into water 8 feet deep where he struggled to swim. At a point about 75 feet from shore, Gary signaled for help as the current carried him farther out to sea. His father, 44-year-old finance manager Gary M. Simard from Methuen, Massachusetts, immediately responded, entering the water and swimming to his son in the strong current. Simard grasped Gary by an arm and tried to swim them toward shore, but the current continued to pull them farther from land. On the beach, Kenny Crosby, a 34-year-old business owner from Miami Beach, Florida, heard shouts for help from Gary and Simard. Despite the hazardous conditions, Crosby entered the water and swam toward them. By the time Crosby reached the pair, they were about 150 feet from shore. Simard, exhausted from the effort to rescue his son, pushed Gary to Crosby. At some point, Simard submerged and did not resurface. With Gary in tow, Crosby tried to swim directly to shore but the current prevented him from making any progress. Changing course, Crosby swam parallel to the shoreline, eventually reaching wadable water with Gary. Crosby pushed Gary toward a bystander standing in chest-deep water who, with Gary, exited the water onto the beach. Crosby soon followed. Gary was examined by paramedics at the scene and was not injured. Emergency personnel reached Simard in the water about 300 feet from shore. He was taken to the beach, where paramedics attempted to revive him before he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He could not be revived; he had drowned. Crosby ingested water and had trouble breathing following the rescue. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was monitored for water in his lungs. He was released and recovered in about a week.
Joseph F. Mello III
Seventy-seven-year-old Joseph Mello Jr. was recovering from back surgery when a fire broke out on the first floor of his Ipswich, Massachusetts, home on Aug. 18, 2025. As the fire spread upward into the rear of the second floor and roof, Mello remained trapped in a second-floor bedroom. Across the driveway, his son, 56-year-old business owner Joseph F. Mello III, was stepping into the shower in his home when he heard someone shouting about a fire. Barefoot and wearing only a bathrobe, Joseph ran outside, and, seeing smoke pouring from the roof of his father’s house, he entered the burning structure through the front door. Joseph climbed the stairs and made his way through thick smoke to his father’s bedroom. After he helped his father to his walker, he ran to a bathroom to soak towels with water to help them breathe. The two men started down the hall toward the stairs, but conditions had worsened, with dense smoke filling the stairway. Joseph feared the electric chairlift his father depended on might not work and the smoke-choked staircase was no longer a safe means of escape. Joseph changed course and guided his father to a rear bedroom. As firefighters responded outside, Joseph opened the window and called for a ladder. Firefighters positioned a ladder to the window, and a firefighter entered the room to help Joseph get Mello onto the ladder. Firefighters lowered Mello to the ground and then Joseph descended himself. Mellow was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, cuts, and abrasions. He recovered. Joseph suffered smoke inhalation and abrasions but declined medical treatment. After a few weeks of coughing, he recovered.
Matthew Forrester
A 90-year-old man became trapped inside his car after it left the roadway in Lilburn, Georgia, on March 15, 2025. The vehicle came to rest in the rear yard of a property off a cul-de-sac. Disoriented and unable to escape, the driver repeatedly revved the engine to return to the road. As a tire spun and eventually wore down, the exposed metal wheel rim struck rocks and caused sparks that ignited a fire along a nearby culvert. The property belonged to Matthew Forrester, a 45-year-old teacher, who was alerted to the crash and responded barefoot. When he arrived, flames were 5 feet high burning at the car’s passenger side and spreading toward the engine. Dense smoke billowed from the open driver’s window, obscuring the interior. Although he could not see inside, Forrester heard the man shouting for help. Forrester opened the driver’s door and felt around for a seat belt. He soon realized the man was not restrained. With flames entering the passenger compartment through vents at the dashboard, Forrester extended his head and arms inside the car, grasped the man under his arms and pulled, but the man would not let go of the steering wheel. As the fire advanced toward the driver, Forrester leaned farther into the vehicle and pulled again, forcibly freeing the man from the vehicle. Maintaining his hold on the man, Forrester dragged him up a hill away from the car. About 20 seconds after the rescue, the engine exploded and debris was thrown into the air, landing as far as 10 feet from the vehicle. Flames grew to about 9 feet high and enveloped the vehicle. The driver sustained an injury to a foot in the accident but declined medical treatment at the scene. He died about two months later of unrelated causes. Forrester suffered minor smoke inhalation, singed hair on his arm, and was sore following the rescue. He did not require medical treatment and recovered.
Matthew C. Schoenecker, deceased, and Matthew Thomas Anthony, deceased
A group of six hikers stopped at a water fall along the North Fork American River in Soda Springs, California, on June 18, 2025. Two members of the group had jumped from a cliff about 20 feet above the river into a deep pool below. Following them, 59-year-old Valentino Creus jumped from the cliff and entered the water, he struggled to stay afloat in the cold, turbulent current near a 50-foot waterfall. Among the hikers were 50-year-old biomedical engineer Matthew C. Schoenecker of Los Angeles and 44-year-old administrator Matthew Thomas Anthony of New York City. Shortly before Creus entered the water, Schoenecker and another hiker had jumped from the cliff and had experienced the strength of the current. They were climbing out of the river about 50 feet downstream, when Creus jumped into the pool by himself, out of their line of sight. Anthony was among the others in the group that remained near the cliff and peered down over the edge when Creus called out for help. By that time, Schoenecker was approaching the group, Anthony told him that Creus needed help. Schoenecker immediately jumped into the river again. Anthony then removed his shoes and also entered the water. The actions of Schoenecker and Anthony after they entered the pool could not be established, but the remaining hikers did not see any of the three men again. Three days later, a diver recovered the bodies of Creus, Schoenecker, and Anthony underwater near the waterfall. They had drowned.
David Cardenas
A 21-year-old man was driving in Holland, Michigan, on June 27, 2025, when he suffered a medical emergency. His car left the interstate and crashed head-on into a tree on a grassy embankment. Unresponsive and pinned by the steering wheel, he remained trapped inside as smoke began to rise from the vehicle. Witnesses soon saw flames break out at the car’s front end while the driver remained unable to escape. Among the bystanders who stopped at the scene was off-duty state police Sgt. David Cardenas, 49, of Rockford, Michigan. Seeing the trapped driver and growing fire, Cardenas attempted to break the driver’s window with a lawn chair but was unsuccessful. He then used a passerby’s empty fire extinguisher to smash multiple windows. Cardenas cut the shoulder strap of the man’s seat belt and, through a rear door, fully entered the smoke-filled car. By then, flames had breached the cabin and were burning the man’s legs. Inside the vehicle, Cardenas reclined the driver’s seat and pulled the man’s arms, but he was unable to free him. Forced back by the smoke, Cardenas exited the car twice for fresh air. Inside the burning car for a third time, Cardenas again tugged on the man’s arms inching him toward the backseat area. Around then, another man approached and grasped one of the man’s arms. Together, they pulled the man away from the car and dragged him across the grass to safety. The flames swelled, spreading to the nearby tree and the grass by the car, eventually destroying the vehicle. Cardenas helped first-responders tend to the man before he was taken to a hospital for severe burns to the lower half of his body and hand. The man was hospitalized for six weeks and completed two weeks of rehabilitation. Cardenas reported a minor burn to his left forearm and multiple cuts on his legs, feet, and hands. He declined hospital treatment.
Matthew Baxter
On a June 9, 2025, visit to the Little River Reservoir in Saint John, New Brunswick, a teenage boy struggled to swim in cold water. The incident occurred off a municipal park beach before seasonal lifeguards were stationed on the beach. The water temperature that afternoon was estimated to be in the low 60s. Nearby, civil engineering technologist Matthew Baxter, 28, from Saint John, was attending a construction site meeting with others when they heard calls for help. Baxter quickly disassembled a section of metal fence surrounding the construction site and rushed to the shoreline. He removed his construction helmet and surveyor’s vest, but he kept on the rest of his clothing, including steel-toe boots. Entering the reservoir, Baxter was initially shocked by the cold water. He waded into the water until it was deep enough to swim and then struck out toward the victim, who by then was more than 100 feet from shore. The boy was holding onto another teen who was trying to help him. Baxter separated them and secured the struggling boy. The other teen was able to swim back on his own while Baxter began kicking toward the beach with the boy. Unable to kick off his boots that weighed him down, Baxter submerged multiple times with the boy and swallowed water. They eventually reached wadable water where others from shore met Baxter to help the boy. Arriving first-responders took the boy to a hospital. Baxter coughed up water he had swallowed during the rescue but did not require medical treatment. He recovered.
Ryan Warren
A fire broke out at the Weaverville, California, home of 79-year-old Jeffrey G. Hickey on Oct. 9, 2025. Hickey, who used a walker and was hearing impaired, was on the floor of his living room as the fire spread to other parts of the house. Unable to escape, he activated his medical alert pendant, which sent a text message to family members, including his grandson, 27-year-old Weaverville tattoo artist Ryan Warren, who was nearby. Warren had visited Hickey earlier but had left about 15 minutes before he received the alert and drove back to his grandfather’s home. Smoke rose from the roof. He opened the front door but was driven back by thick smoke. He exited the house and called 911 on his cell phone. Warren then covered his mouth with his sweatshirt and re-entered the home. He ran about 30 feet to the living room and found his grandfather on the floor. By then, the kitchen, about 15 feet away, had become engulfed in flames. Portions of the living room carpet near Hickey were also burning. Warren grabbed Hickey under both arms and walked backward, dragging him 30 feet through smoke and heat to the front door. Once on the porch, Warren placed Hickey in a wheelchair and moved him down the porch stairs and into the front yard. An ambulance took Hickey to a hospital, and he was later flown by helicopter to a Sacramento hospital. Hickey died two days later from his injuries. Warren was evaluated at a hospital. After coughing up black phlegm for several days, he recovered.
Brandon Rorer
A fire broke out on the back deck of a Spring Hill, Tennessee, house on Aug. 25, 2025. As the fire spread and black smoke filled the home, 7-year-old Silas Rorer remained near the doorway of his second-floor bedroom. Silas’ father, 36-year-old treasury analyst Brandon Rorer, had re-entered the home on the basement level after attempting to put out the fire when he learned that Silas had not escaped with his mother and sister. Rorer ran up two flights of stairs and called out for Silas. Through the thick smoke and blistering heat, Rorer felt for his son while following the sound of his son’s voice. Unable to continue due to the smoke and heat, Rorer was forced back down to the first floor. He then climbed the stairs again, continuing his search. Once more he was unsuccessful and forced to retreat. Rorer made a third attempt but again was unable to locate his son before running out of air. On his fourth attempt, he felt Silas, picked him up, and fled down two flights of stairs and out of the house to safety. Silas was hospitalized for two days and treated for minor burns on his face, ear, and arm. He also had smoke inhalation injuries, and he recovered. Rorer was taken to the hospital in critical condition, suffering second-degree thermal burns to his head, chest, and arm, as well as a serious smoke inhalation injury. He was hospitalized for three weeks and was still recovering almost a year later.
Frank John LaFerrara
A teenage girl became caught in a rip current in the Atlantic Ocean near a rock jetty in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Oct. 5, 2025. She struggled to swim in water at least 6 feet deep about 100 feet from shore as the current carried her farther from land. Nearby on the beach, 73-year-old grocery store clerk Frank John LaFerrara of Ocean City saw the girl in distress. LaFerrara entered the water and swam toward her. As the current continued pulling the girl away from shore, LaFerrara advanced. He stopped briefly about 10 feet from her to catch his breath before continuing. LaFerrara eventually reached the girl, who by then was at a point about 200 feet from shore where the water was approximately 20 feet deep. Upon reaching her, the girl panicked and jumped onto LaFerrara. She pushed down on his shoulders and submerged him beneath the surface. After resurfacing, LaFerrara grasped the girl’s hands and pushed her away from his body while maintaining a hold on her to prevent being submerged again. He told her to calm down and that he would get her to safety. Holding one of the girl’s hands, LaFerrara began swimming away from the jetty and toward shore. During the return, waves submerged the girl at least twice before she resurfaced. LaFerrara towed the girl until they reached wadable water. Once they were out of danger, another man arrived with a flotation device and assisted LaFerrara in helping the girl to shore. Paramedics examined the girl at the scene, but she did not require further treatment. LaFerrara was short of breath following the rescue but did not require medical treatment. He recovered.
Stanley Grenier
A sedan unintentionally left the road and struck a tree in Lebanon, Maine, on April 15, 2024, at which point, its driver, 38-year-old William Santana, was rendered unconscious and seriously injured. Most of Santana’s body was slumped over the front, passenger seat when smoke began rising from the vehicle. Within minutes, the vehicle caught fire. A bystander approached the vehicle, opened the driver’s door, and attempted to assist Santana. Unable to rouse him, the bystander concluded that continuing the rescue was too dangerous and returned to the roadside. The bystander then flagged down another driver, who used a fire extinguisher to little effect on the growing fire. Commercial painter Stanley Grenier, 50, of Springvale, Maine, then also stopped at the scene. As flames burned on the passenger side, Grenier approached the car and knelt on the unoccupied driver’s seat. He attempted several times to wake Santana but was unsuccessful. Grenier then grasped Santana’s left arm and pulled him across the center console. Crawling backward, Grenier moved Santana into the driver’s seat. He then placed his right arm beneath Santana’s left arm and helped the now semiconscious Santana to his feet. Grenier led Santana away from the burning vehicle and toward responding emergency personnel. Santana was taken to a local hospital, where he remained for one week. He received treatment for a fractured skull, a broken neck, and a punctured lung. He was not burned. He recovered within six months. Grenier was not injured.
Frank Mervin Young, deceased
A young girl was playing near the edge of the Chattahoochee River in Roswell, Georgia, on July 2, 2025, when she unintentionally entered the water and struggled to swim in water about 7 feet deep. Seeing her daughter in distress, the girl’s mother entered the river to help. She, too, began struggling in the water. Nearby, 59-year-old taxi driver Frank Mervin Young of Sugar Hill, Georgia, was fishing. When the emergency unfolded, Young entered the cold water to help. According to the girl’s 14-year-old brother, Young reached the mother and daughter. While attempting to assist them, however, Young also struggled to swim. He ultimately submerged and was carried away from the bank by the current. Meanwhile, the girl’s brother positioned himself on land near the water’s edge while holding a plastic cooler. He extended the cooler toward the girl and her mother. Both were able to grasp it, allowing the boy to pull them safely to shore. Emergency personnel, firefighters, and police arrived and took control of the scene. The girl had swallowed water and vomited after being removed from the river but was otherwise unharmed. Firefighters later deployed a rescue boat and located Young’s body about an hour after he submerged. He had drowned.
Dustin Colson Leaning
A 37-year-old man was driving a pickup truck on an interstate near the Mississippi River in La Crescent, Minnesota, on June 30, 2025, when he suddenly felt faint. After pulling into a rest area, he lost consciousness and crashed through brush into the river. Boston program manager Dustin Colson Leaning, 32, was parked at the rest area with his partner when they heard the crash. The two ran to the shoreline and saw the pickup bobbing in the river about 60 feet from shore. While his partner called 911, Colson Leaning entered the water and swam to the truck. The vehicle was floating upright, submerged to the door handles. Inside, he could see the semiconscious driver, who was bleeding from the face, while water poured into the cab. As the river current carried the pickup farther from shore, Colson Leaning attempted to open the front, passenger door but was unsuccessful. He then swam to the driver’s side and tried to open the driver’s door. When that effort failed, Colson Leaning moved to the rear, driver’s-side door. It also would not open. Bracing both feet against the truck, Colson Leaning grasped the rear door handle with both hands and pulled. The door opened as the pickup began to list and sink away from him. Water rushed into the cab and began forcing the door closed again. Colson Leaning wedged his shoulder and one foot between the door and the frame to keep it open. While holding the door open, he grasped the driver beneath an elbow. At the same time, the driver pushed himself outward, and Colson Leaning pulled him free from the vehicle. The two men then swam to a nearby tree branch, where they floated and rested before continuing to a boat-ramp dock. The driver was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in the crash. Colson Leaning was uninjured.
Casey Gerek and Matthew Curran
Paul V. Gerek, 60, was walking his dog with his son near the flooded Menomonee River in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, on Aug. 11, 2025, when the dog entered the river after its leash broke. Believing he could reach the dog, Gerek stepped toward the water and fell into the river. Submerged up to his neck, he grasped a branch near the bank to avoid being swept away by the swift current. Seeing his father struggling, 17-year-old high school student Casey Gerek of Menomonee Falls moved to the water’s edge to help. As he crossed a steep submerged drop-off along the bank, Casey fell into the cold water and also became submerged up to his neck. He grasped a branch beside his father, and the two remained in the river holding on and shouting for help. A woman responded and called 911. Police and fire personnel arrived and began rescue efforts using ropes. They succeeded in securing Gerek, but Casey continued struggling in the swift current. The branch Casey was holding and the rescue rope both broke, and he was carried downstream. As Casey drifted away, officers attempted to reach him by lowering a K-9 leash from a bridge, but the current carried him beyond it. Two officers then drove downstream to get ahead of him. One of them was 34-year-old Menomonee Falls police officer Matthew Curran. After spotting an opening near the riverbank, the officers stopped, removed some of their equipment, and moved toward the water. When Casey drifted within reach, Curran entered the river and grasped Casey’s right hand. The current immediately swept both downstream. Curran attempted to grab brush near the bank but missed it. He submerged and resurfaced before being carried about 100 feet downstream from the point where he had entered the river. Still holding Casey, Curran reached a low-hanging branch from a downed tree with one hand. He pulled Casey toward the brush and held him there while calling out so the other officers could locate them. Curran and the other officers then worked together to move Casey to the opposite side of the branch into shallow water. After officers assisted Casey, Curran climbed over the branch himself. Casey vomited water he had ingested and was carried by Curran, other officers, and responding fire personnel to an access road, where they waited for an ambulance. Meanwhile, rescue personnel removed Gerek from the river. He had sustained bruises and ingested water. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital and released several hours later. Casey was treated at a hospital for minor hypothermia and was released after several hours. The family dog later was found alive near the family vehicle in a nearby parking lot. Curran was uninjured.
