Bravery was on display in the community of Banks in Clarendon, on Sunday as a man who was being swept away by floodwaters was rescued by an off-duty firefighter.

The man, whose name is being withheld, was said to be on his way to check on his cattle during the heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Elsa when he attempted to cross a bridge over a flooded gully.

Firefighter Sherwayne Thomas, who is attached to the May Pen Fire Station, told the Observer that he was staying with a friend in Banks, when we saw the man attempting to cross the bridge.

“We beckoned to him not to try to cross it but he didn’t hear, so he attempted it and got washed away. We see him go under and we say, ‘a it that, him gone’. Then him come back up and me say, ‘no man’ and I ran off the verandah. During this time I realise him go down and come up several times until he saw a tree and grabbed hold of it,” recalled Thomas, who has been a firefighter for just over two years.

“At first when I saw him go under mi say him dead, but when mi see him come up back mi say, ‘no mi affi try’ because I’ve never seen the water that high before and the force it was pushing with and it’s like something kick in and I felt my body moved off in his direction and I thought to myself I have to reach to him.

“The first attempt I made I couldn’t reach him because of how deep the water was and the intensity of the currents, so I had to go all the way around to the second bridge and so I tried again to reach him but by this time the water was at my waist,” said Thomas.

“So I left and went to my uncle, who is a fisherman, and got a rope and my friend had a five gallon oil jug and I took it and went back to him,” added Thomas who noted that other persons tried to assist but the force of the water was too much for them.

“I tied one end of the rope on a tree and then tie it around my waist then connect that same rope to the oil jug and then went out into the water where it was almost at my waist. Then I told him to come down to a lower limb. I told him to tie the jug around his waist three times and then hold on to it because the air in the jug would cause him to float.

“It was hard at first because he never wanted to let go off the tree because he was so traumatised, so when he saw me alone he asked where are the other persons who come to help. Eventually, he tied the rope three times around his waist and I gripped it firmly around my hand and as he began to lower himself from the tree I started pulling him in, knowing that the jug would cause him to float. I pulled him in and brought him to the shallow part of the gully and then back to main road where he was able to go home back to his family,” added Thomas.

According to the fire fighter, he was upset because they had shouted to the man not to attempt to cross the flooded area but he ignored the warning.

“At the end when I was speaking to him he said he didn’t hear us shouting at him so I said, ‘OK’.”

Thomas credited his training and experience for his ability to rescue the trapped man.

“Mi never really feel no way because I have the experience of going to sea and I used to do fishing before I was a firefighter, so I know how to navigate the currents, and I knew that where I was standing was safe enough for me to pull him in. As a firefighter, I was taught skills like swift water rescue so I wasn’t nervous or scared or anything like that,” said Thomas.

“Mi just a give God thanks how it work out because many times rescues go wrong and this one worked out so simple for him,” added Thomas.