Hero Lifeguard fired for trying to save man's life

Update 07/06/2012: The company gave him back his job after the investigation.

Tomas Lopez, a 21-year-old lifeguard, was fired on Monday after he left his station to help a man who had been pulled out of the water in an unprotected area of Hallandale Beach. According to the Orlando Sun Sentinel, Lopez and an off-duty nurse tended to the man, a 21-year-old from Estonia, until paramedics arrived. The man who is recovering at a local hospital was in a "swim at your own risk" area of the beach about 1,500 feet south of the boundary lifeguards are expected to patrol.

"I was on stand, and guests came up to me and told me there was someone drowning, that people were screaming and so I started running in the direction," Lopez said. "I ran out to do the job I was trained to do, I didn't think about it at all."