Miami Beach

Fiery Rescue

Good Samaritans firefighters and police save two teenagers

By Ben Torter

This burned yacht almost killed two teenagers. Photo by George Barreiro

Saving lives is all in a day’s work for firefighters and police officers, but some rescues are particularly memorable. The heroism displayed in saving the lives of two teenagers from a burning yacht in the Miami Beach Marina early Monday morning won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

Flames shooting off the more than 60-foot yacht could be seen from blocks away as firefighters and police arrived on the scene just after 5 a.m. That’s when their worst nightmare came true. Police spotted an arm through one of the boat’s portholes. Two teenagers were alive and trapped beneath the inferno.

Miami Beach firefighter Dave Anderson looked over the scene as a second yacht was burned. “I couldn’t believe anyone was living,” said Anderson. “If the fire doesn’t get you, the smoke will.”

Two bystanders, Elloy Dominguez and Matthew Tambor, commandeered their friend Capt. Bouncer Smith’s 20-foot Dusky. Along with firefighters Zvee Hirsh, Allen Lopez, Anderson and Miami Beach Police Officer Luis King, they approached the side of the yacht where the kids were trapped and went to work.

“The spot where the people were had flames rolling on it,” Anderson said. “So Zvee did a water curtain on it, that allowed us to get in there.… I started cutting the hull.”

The firefighters were wearing breathing gear, but King, Dominguez and Tambor were breathing toxic smoke as they held onto the yacht to steady their boat so Anderson could keep cutting.

“I remember seeing the girl’s face, and I have a 17-year-old girl,” King said. “At one point I remember saying a quick prayer, ‘God, please help us.’ We were going to stay there until we got them out no matter what.” 

King handed breathing gear and a hose into the boat and calmed the terrified girl, while the boy sprayed water to keep the flames at bay.

“Police Officer King was communicating with them, letting them know what was going on, and assuring them we’d get them out,” Anderson said.

Forty minutes after discovering the two spring breakers from Naples, rescuers pulled them to safety. Moments later the entire hull was engulfed in flames.

“The kids were coughing when they got out, but were pretty much untouched,” Anderson said.

None of the firefighters wanted credit, stressing how teamwork is what saved the lives.

“Everybody from the firemen to the cops to the bystanders did a phenomenal job and really made it happen,” Hirsh said. “At the end of the day there was a burnt-up ship, but you can replace that.”

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