Vacationing NY Firefighter Saves Three Girls in NC

April 27 -- A vacationing New York state firefighter is being credited with saving three girls caught in a deadly rip current off North Carolina's Emerald Isle.

The rescue happened Thursday, just two days after a 4-year-old New Hampshire boy was pulled into the ocean by a swift wave and drowned off the Outer Banks. His body remained missing early Friday.

Officials with the Oswego, New York, Fire Department said firefighter Sean O'Gorman was vacationing with his family at Emerald Isle on Thursday when he learned a father had tried and failed to reach three young girls struggling in a rip current. The father had even tried using a surfboard, said officials.

O'Gorman had recently completed his swift water rescue training, and used a "forceful crawl" technique to reach the girls, said department officials. "By the time firefighters from Emerald Isle arrived, O'Gorman had everyone out of the water safe," reported the Oswego Fire Department.

North Carolina is one of the most dangerous states for rip currents, which are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water that can move at speeds of up to eight feet per second. Between 1996 and 2016, 54 beachgoers were killed in rip currents in the state -- the second-most in the nation, trailing only Florida, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On average about 100 people a year are killed by rip tides, according to NOAA.

Oswego is a city in northwest New York, on the banks of Lake Ontario. O'Gorman joined the Oswego Fire Department in 2000, officials said.

O'Gorman rescued the girls two days after a 4-year-old boy vacationing with his family in NC was pulled out to sea at Kitty Hawk, about three hours north of Emerald Isle. The boy was walking with his mother in shallow waters on a beach when a came crashing onto shore, knocking both to their feet, reported The Washington Post.

The boy was ripped from his mother's grip and carried out to sea, the Post reported. He hasn't been seen since, reported Kitty Hawk police. The family is reportedly from Manchester, New Hampshire, according to TV station WMUR.

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