Off Duty Firefighter, Son Rescue Boaters From River After Pontoon Capsizes In Potomac

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — An off duty firefighter/paramedic boating with his son ended up rescuing five passengers from the Potomac River after their pontoon boat capsized in a storm near Belvedere Beach Sunday, officials say.

Prince George's Fire Department Firefighter Gil James, who is assigned to Company 847/Ft. Washington, was with his son when they heard the distress call come across the radio. The boat was located 1,000 feet off the Fairview Beach marina, according to the fire department.

While James and his son saved five people from the water, a woman was recovered from the wreckage of the boat.

“One of our neighbors recorded 40-miles-an-hour [sic] gusts at one point,” James, who lives in Fairview Beach, told the Fredericksburg Free Press. “When I got the call, the rain had just started to stop but everything was flooded down here.”

The passengers weren't wearing lifejackets at the time of the emergency, the paper reported.

“I think it just happened so fast that they didn’t have a chance to respond," James said.

Read more at Fredericksburg Free Press