- Jimmy Morris, 35, from Gold Coast, Qld, was catching lobsters off the Queensland coast, when he ran into trouble.
- Arriving at a fishing spot, a giant wave flipped his Dory upside down, leaving him and his captain stranded at sea.
- Following his brush with death, Jimmy was inspired to join the Australian firefighters.
Here Jimmy tells his story in his own words.
Flames roared as I pulled on my helmet, the night sky glowing orange as I raced towards the blaze.
Charging forward with my hose, my crew rallying around me, together we extinguished the flames.
I’d wanted to be a firefighter since I was a little boy.
But it wasn’t until I had a brush with death in July 2019, that I was inspired to send in my application.
At the time, I’d been working as a diver, catching lobsters off the Queensland coast.
I lived on a ship with 15 other crew members, and each day, we’d split up, heading to different spots for the day.
‘Our best chance is to wait until nightfall.’
One day, me and the driver of a small boat, known as a Dory, had driven 130km out to sea.
After slipping on my mask, which was attached to a compressor via an airline on the boat, I dove into the crystal clear ocean.
I’d been underwater for around four minutes when my air supply suddenly stopped.
Taking a deep breath, I swam to the surface where I spotted the driver, standing at the back of the boat.
He’d accidentally driven over the airline, causing a tangle, which had prevented oxygen from getting through.
READ MORE: ‘Ocean rescue: ‘I was swept out to sea’’
By now the wind had picked up and the waves were growing more choppy as they crashed onto the boat over and over.
When another giant wave caused the Dory to overturn, I rushed to help the driver, who’d been tossed overboard.
Instructing him to hang on to the upturned boat, I dove underwater to retrieve a bottle of water, life jacket and a rope, which I used to secure him to the boat.
Diving back down, I buried the anchor to the sea floor, around 15 metres below, to stop us from floating away.
But it did little to stop the boat from being thrashed around in the turbulent waves, making it impossible for us to sit on top, away from predators.
Thankfully, I also found six flares, but our locator beacon (EPERB) was faulty.
‘I just hope the sharks stay away.’
Letting off two smoke flares, the wind was so strong it blew away the smoke in seconds.
‘Our best chance is to wait until nightfall,’ I said, saving the remaining four.
I knew the other divers were due to return to the ship, anchored around 40km away around 6pm, and would come looking for us when we didn’t turn up.
‘I just hope the sharks stay away,’ I prayed, thinking of the tiger and bull sharks I’d spotted earlier, as we desperately tread water.
By 7pm, the sky was pitch black, and there was no help in sight.
REAM MORE: ‘Aussie Dad’s nightmare: Trapped under a sinking boat’
‘Now’s our chance,’ I said, letting off another flare that lit up the sky for around a minute.
But five agonising hours later, we were still stranded.
I let off another at midnight, but it was four more hours before I spotted the headlights of the ship in the distance.
‘They’ve found us,’ I cheered to the driver, who was utterly exhausted after treading water for 18 hours.
‘Over here!’ I screamed, as the boat drove nearer.
‘We only get one life.’
I helped the driver onto the back of the ship first, before climbing onboard.
Making our way back to shore, he was taken to a hospital on Horn Island, where he was treated for shock and hypothermia.
Thankfully, I’d been wearing a wetsuit which kept my body temperature regulated, and I’d come away unscathed.
Taking a few weeks to recover, I kept thinking about how lucky we were to survive.
‘We only get one life,’ I thought. ‘I should spend it doing what I really want to.’
With that, I decided to apply to become a firefighter.
READ MORE: ‘Camping accident: A gum tree trapped me inside my swag’
The process involved a lot of physical and aptitude tests, and interviews, so I continued working as a diver, and as a lifeguard during the off season, while I waited for the results.
Finally, a year after applying, I got a call to say I’d been successful.
The next four months were spent at a bootcamp, where I learned the ropes on how to extinguish fires, road crash investigations and fire science.
Then in September 2024, my whole family came to see me graduate.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ my mum, Julie, then 63, beamed alongside my siblings, Bronte, 37, and Trent, 35.
Responding to my first call out was equal parts nerve-wracking and exciting.
But I was grateful for all the training I’d received, as my team and I worked to extinguish the house fire.
I soon realised that being a firefighter wasn’t just about battling blazes though.
We were also some of the first ones to respond to other emergencies, such as car accidents, infants locked in hot cars and animal rescuers like cats stuck in trees and ducklings in drains.
Four months later, I was approached to take part in the Australian Firefighter Calendar, featuring fireys from across Australia, which raises funds for animal charities, children’s hospitals, mental health services for first responders and disaster recovery efforts across the country and internationally.
That April, I joined a group of other fireys in a warehouse, where we posed with rescue animals from local shelters, with the intention to find them loving homes.
The next day we headed to Paradise Country on the Sunshine Coast for photos with the meerkats, llamas and koalas.
I hadn’t told anyone about the calendar, but the secret soon got out.
‘Hi Baby oil,’ the boys whistled when I walked into the station each morning.
‘You caused quite a stir with my girlfriends from Bridge. They said you were the best looking one there. They aren’t wrong!’ my Nanna Bev, said proudly over the phone.
I didn’t mind copping the flack.
After all, I’m used to the heat!
So far, the calendar has raised more than $3.5 million dollars for charities around Oz.
Now, almost two years since joining the fireys, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
I’m the man I always wanted to be.
Visit australianfirefighterscalendar.com
