(Providence Journal) – By the time Kris Hopkins, an off-duty Middletown firefighter, jumped into the rough surf, her desperate cries sounded like gurgles, he said in an interview with The Providence Journal on Thursday afternoon.
Hopkins, who just happened to be at the beach on Wednesday night, swam 100 yards on the dark foggy night and held the 39-year-old woman in the cold ocean water until help came. He may have saved her life.
Just an hour earlier, Hopkins was sitting along the beach with his three children and his partner, watching one of his “favorite surf breaks” and the sunset, he said. The swells were unusually high — some 9 to 14 feet — because of the recent hurricanes. He wanted to show “his boys” — 14-year-old Kristof and 10-year-old Gregory — one of the spots he paddles out to frequently.
It became clear that Hopkins, who joined the Middletown Fire Department in 2006, would need to be more than a spectator. Hopkins is a lifelong surfer and is one of a handful of certified rescue swimmers in the state. A friend of his held a training session in Charlestown this week, so Hopkins had thrown his equipment in the car. He never made it to the lesson, but the gear came in handy.
In about 10 minutes, he convinced the fire captain in charge of the scene that he was ready and capable to do the rescue. Wearing his yellow helmet, a wet suit and a pair of flippers, he climbed down toward the water and his hand slipped on some “black slime” coating the rocks.
A wave hit him and while disoriented and underwater he became acutely aware that his children were watching from the shore.
“It was hard enough to spin me around,” Hopkins said. “I was dragged across the rocks, and sucked back out … I really didn’t want to scare them.”
