Now, for a heart warming story that comes with a heavy warning.

Last weekend on a warm sunny day, Peter Florance (a retired fire fighter) along with his wife, Fiona and daughter, Jess, decided to spend some time down the beach. They were sitting back enjoying their surroundings and lightly observing the families near them.

They could see a mother and her children having fun, playing on an inflatable mattress. There were 3 children, 3, 6 and 8. The 3 year old was on the sand with another member of the family, and the other 2 were playing in the water.

Peter observed the mother approach her husband and ask if he could watch the children for a minute. While they were talking, a big gust of wind knocked the Florance’s chairs over, blowing sand up in their faces. They proceeded to set their chairs up again, while brushing the sand off of their faces. Just as they sat back down, Peter and Fiona noticed the 8 year old jump off the blow up mattress, while the 6 year old remained onboard. As the wind picked up, the mattress had began to float away from the 8 year old sibling, while their mothers back was still turned.

The mother turned back around and began walking over to the children. At this stage, it seemed as though the mattress was still within reach. She went out into the water, first ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist and then neck deep, still not reaching her 6 year old daughter.

Fiona looked over at Peter, “You should jump up and give her a hand” Peter responded, “I was just thinking the same thing”, he began making his way over to the water, without realising the speed in which the wind was pushing the mattress out.

…the wind was pushing the mattress out…

Peter entered the water and by this time, Mum was swimming. He realised at about waist deep that the distance between child and Mum was increasing and they were actually in trouble.

Peter, a retired fireman, had kept his fitness up and knew that he needed to swim hard. He checked his position and put his head down and powered through the water. Upon looking up to re-check his position, he realised that the young girl had blown off course from where he first saw her and was now no longer in line with Peter.

He course corrected, by this stage the young girl was even further out. The waves were crashing against Peter, making it difficult to breath.

He saw an older kid on a boogie board, the kid looked quite fit, so Peter asked the boy if he thought he could make the distance to the girl. The boy said that there was no way he would be able to swim that far. With no life guards, surfers or jet skis in sight, it was up to Peter.

Every second counted, it seemed as though every 10 seconds, she would move 10 metres away. Next stop was Kangaroo Island.

With the situation becoming more urgent, Peter was determined to get to that little girl. As Peter caught up to the mother he stopped and asked her if she was okay. “Yes” she responded “but I can’t get my daughter, Frankie. The wind is blowing too hard”. Peter kept going, ahead of the mother. At this stage he was starting to get quite exhausted.

…Peter was determined to get to that little girl…

Peter said “the only thing that could have stopped me from trying to get to that girl, was if I had a heart attack.” He could feel and hear his heart pounding in the water, but he knew the only way to catch Frankie was to swim hard.

Peter remembered looking up when there was still roughly 5 or 10 metres to go, he was finally getting closer and with one last big effort, he pushed himself with pure determination and reached young Frankie.

Circling the raft, he discovered there was no handle on it to grab. He knew if he grabbed the raft itself, she would have slipped off. Peter grabbed Frankie’s arm and instructed her to stay in the middle of the raft. He needed an anchor point to grab on to. She was clearly distressed, but at the same time, felt comfortable with Peter because she knew he was there to help her.

Desperately in need of rest, Peter still had to swim half a kilometre back to shore, side stroking, as he now only had one free hand.

The swim back was difficult but he had Frankie, she was out of immediate danger, so he allowed himself to ease the pace and regain some of his breath.

20 feet deep in water, he was relieved to catch up with the girls mother. They introduced themselves, she said her name was Katie. Peter showed her how to side stroke and she was able to provide some relief for Peter, as he knew running out of energy now was not an option.

The waves were crashing up in their faces and Peter, almost 61, recalls swallowing a lot of water. Noticing the age gap, Katie asked Peter several times if he was alright, to which Peter gave an honest answer “No”. But, he knew he had a job to do. Katie said “hop up on the raft and I’ll drag you both in” Peter didn’t have energy to hop on and wanted to complete the task he started.

Peter said upon reflect, that not many people could do what she did but as a a mother she wouldn’t let her child go. Peter said “we did it together and she did a fantastic job. Katie stayed with her child the whole way even though she knew she wasn’t keeping up, she was not giving up.” Peter said that he couldn’t have done it without Katie.

…as a mother she wouldn’t let her child go…

As the trio drew nearer to land, they started checking if they could reach the bottom, “not yet”, they reported to each other. Finally, on Peter’s last check, he felt the sand. As they came in through the waves, Fiona and Jess raced over to Peter, while Frankie and Katie’s family did the same for their loved ones.

Peter, now unable to even lift his arms, sat down in his chair, totally buggered. He began to regulate his breathing, a technique he learned from scuba diving. Katie’s family came over to check on him and express their thanks, even offering him a reward. Peter said that seeing Frankie back on land, and safe, was his reward. The two families agreed to keep in touch.

It was a rough night for Peter, coughing up water. He reflected that he used to swim competitively in his teenage years, but that was a long time ago, and at 60 year’s of age, he took 2 days to properly recover.

Peter is incredibly grateful for his training working with Emergency Services. It prepared him physically and mentally to fulfil the most rewarding challenge.

The next day after the rescue, Katie and Frankie and the family came to visit him. They had bought him a slab of beer, flowers for Fiona, who also attempted to swim out and rescue Frankie, and what was the most heart warming gift of all, a card hand-made by Frankie.

Katie told Peter that after he swam by her, all she could see were these strong arms powering through the waves, she said it was at that point she knew they were okay.

Just as the family were leaving, Peter asked them to wait a moment. He returned after a short time with a medal that he received in 1972, when he was 11 years old. It was a swimming medal with Peter’s name on one side and an image of a swimmer and a star on the other side. Peter told the Frankie that she was a hero for staying on the mattress and that this medal is to remind her that someone is always watching over her.

The card is currently sitting proudly on display in the Florance’s living room. It was an emotional experience for everyone. Peter said he even had a tear in his eye. He said he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he didn’t make it to Frankie.

Peter said his 34 year career as a fire fighter helped, but he would have helped even without that training. He believes that it is in his human spirit to help people. “I just kick myself into gear; it is an unquestionable gear; it’s automatic”, Peter explained, “I think there is a built in mechanism in me, it’s in my nature to help people”.

Fiona, who was dealing with her own physical limitations and recovering from a major health scare, also did not hesitate to jump into the water. Peter remembers calling back to her to go back. As they drew nearer to shore, a surfer approached them and offered assistance. Peter asked if he could help Fiona make her way back, as by this stage, they seemed to have the situation under control. The surfer was kind enough to assist Fiona return to shore.

The entire event took roughly 20-30 minutes. It surprised everyone how quickly the wind took Frankie out to sea. Peter felt that if he had have waited another 30 second before jumping in the water, that he may not have made it to her.

While it never entered Peter’s mind; in a frightening development a few hours after the event, it was discovered that a shark was spotted in the area. Beach safety is essential and while, in this occasion, there were no life guards present, where possible it is important to stay between the flags.

It is important to let this be a reminder to all, not to take pool toys to the ocean. Fortunately, everyone made it home safely in this occasion, but things could have ended up very differently that day.

Sadly, in almost the exact same situation, a father lost his life last month in an attempt to save his daughter on an Adelaide beach, when an inflatable tube she was onboard was swept out from the shore.