Quick-thinking security colleague Danny saves life of a man who fell into cold river

"He really was the hero of the hour" – that's what West Yorkshire Fire Service say about quick-thinking security colleague Danny Kesler from our head office in Leeds who saved the life of a young man who fell into the River Aire.

Danny was monitoring CCTV in the early hours when he saw the man fall into the river near the building on Great Wilson Street.

He rushed to the riverbank and, using a length of cable he'd managed to find, threw it down to the man, shouting to him to grab hold of it.

The man gripped the cable along with the side wall at the banking of the river and, with him hanging on by his fingertips, Danny called the fire service.

Danny said: “I was eight hours into my 12-hour shift and I was monitoring the security camera’s when I noticed a young man on the river bank who, just out of nowhere lost his balance and fell into the water. I quickly just ran outside and did what anyone else would do.

"It was amazing to see such a quick response from the fire service and I’m just happy I was able to help and keep him safe – I’m really pleased he’s making a good recovery."

Danny calmly went back to work after the dramatic incident.

The man's dad has contacted Asda and met up with Danny. He said: "We cannot thank him enough for what he’s done. I made a point of going to meet him at the start of his shift on Sunday to tell him he’d saved our son's life. He was a really nice guy and walked me through and explained everything what had happened."

Crews from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service were quickly on scene and were able to locate the man due to Danny’s diligence and got him to safety.

Watch manager Lee Burrows said: “Danny showed crews the location of the casualty as soon as we arrived. He was semi hidden, out of sight, so locating him would have been delayed without Danny’s help in the darkness.

“Fire crews secured the casualty and brought him onto the bankside to await the ambulance. The man was conscious and breathing throughout but very cold and borderline hypothermic.

"When paramedics arrived, they checked him over but were struggling to take a temperature due to low body heat, and he was taken to hospital.

“I firmly believe that Danny played a huge part in saving the life of this man, and things could have been very different if he hadn’t seen him fall in as there was no-one else around at this time of the morning to witness the fall. This could well have been another news story of a missing person, not found.

“Control Blue, attending fire crews and all responders also performed to a very high standard during this incident but the caller was pivotal from the start.

"I thanked Danny before I left the scene and he was very modest about his efforts, but he really was the hero of the hour.”

Paul Zonfrillo, senior manager for Security at Asda House, said: “We’re so proud of Danny and his quick thinking in this situation – the outcome could have been so different without his actions.

"He jumped into action to save a man’s life and we’re so pleased that he was on shift that evening.”