Neighbors rescue family on runaway boat in Cape Coral canal

Two women used quick thinking to make a tough rescue, saving lives.

A fun day out on the water in Cape Coral quickly turned into a rescue mission for Jessica Ralston and her friend.

“My girlfriend and I came in from a day of fishing,” Ralston said. “We noticed that there was a boat just floating down the canal.”

It was a boat with two people holding on for dear life.

“We went over to see if anybody was on it, and they were two ladies, and they needed our assistance,” Ralston said.

Cape Coral Fire Department says a woman fell off her boat and onto a dock. The woman told firefighters the boat had drifted in the canal toward the Caloosahatchee River. The woman’s 91-year-old mother, her daughter and her dog were all stuck inside. That’s when the ladies sprang into action.

“We took my boat off of the lift, and my girlfriend, Brittany, and I went over,” Ralston said. “Brittany jumped onto their boat. We tied it up.”

They were just in time, and it could have gone south if not for their quick thinking.

“If the boat went down the canal, they would’ve eventually hit something,” Ralston said.

Cape Coral Fire Department confirmed the woman who fell off the boat injured her arm, but everyone else was OK.

Both Ralston and her friend are now considered heroes. The fire department awarded them with community recognition coins

“It’s cool, I guess,” Ralston said. “I don’t know if we are heroes, but it was definitely nice just to help people out.”