EAST PROVIDENCE — It's not his favorite story to tell, but is an honorable one nonetheless. On Monday, July 16, East Providence firefighter Francis O'Hara, 49, took actions of heroic proportions outside city confines at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett. Although the end result was not what he or anyone else would have hoped, Mr. O'Hara's efforts earned him just recognition and a fire department Medal of Merit, presented to him at the department's first award and promotion ceremony on Wednesday night.
The day
Mr. O'Hara, his wife and two kids made the trip from Riverside to Scarborough and hit the beach at 3:15 p.m. It was a nice enough day for them to drive down to South County and enjoy the tail end of a summer's beach day, Mr. O'Hara said.
However, as the evening rolled on, the water became uncharacteristically rough and Mr. O'Hara made sure his 10- and 13-year-old sons stayed out. Around 6:15 p.m., after the life guards had left, Mr. O'Hara said he saw two little kids run up to the people they were with and say, "someone is drowning."
He said he quickly walked about 50 yards up the beach, not knowing whether the kids' story was serious, came across a teenage boy who was relatively shallow in the water and yelled for him to come in.
"I didn't know if he was just looking for attention or what," Mr. O'Hara said.
Mr. O'Hara said he then noticed a crowed of about 20 that had gathered along the shore to view a man, later identified by Narragansett Police as 43-year-old Jose Orellana, who was about three-quarters of the way to the buoys. He said the man was struggling, but no one in the crowd made any effort to swim out there.
"I swam up to make sure if he was OK. It took a while for me to get to him, because the water was so rough," he said. "I told him to relax and that everything was going to be cool. I could tell he was exhausted."
All he had
Mr. O'Hara could tell the man was in need. So he hooked his arm and started pulling him toward shore. He said the man went limp, his face submerged and he was unconscious.
"I stopped, flipped him over and pulled him back in. When we got to shallow water, everyone wanted to help," he said. "I was exhausted and let four men grab him, one on each limb, and bring him in. A wave smashed into them and they let the guy go. He was free floating for a little."
Once the man was safely ashore, Mr. O'Hara and a woman performed CPR. Five minutes later, he said, the Narragansett police showed and put the defibrillator on the man, which did not work, because the man did not have a "rhythm."
A rescue took the man to the hospital and the man was pronounced dead.
"I looked at my wife and was like 'Awe, man,' he said. "I felt bad but was not completely crushed, knowing I did everything I could."
By Jeremy Rosen