The sea can be a scary place, especially when you're fighting a rip current.
Two people learned that first hand this weekend near the Devil's Punch Bowl, but a lifeguard with a unique ability was able to save them before anything bad happened.
"I was more than impressed the way everything worked. Everything fell into place," said Assistant Chief Training Officer Hank Walling with the Depoe Bay Fire District.
All those things helped firefighters save a child and his dad swept out to sea by a rip current.
When rescuers arrived, one of the boy's siblings was standing on the shore, as their father swam to rescue his other child stranded on some rocks.
They say the little boy and his dad were then both pulled out to sea by the current.
"The child was frantic, and screaming and stuff because the current was taking him out, he was trying to swim and paddle as much as he could and he wasn't making any headway," Walling said.
That's where EMILY comes in. She's an emergency rescue device that can travel much faster than any human rescuer.
"Turn the remote make sure it steers, and make sure that the motor powers," said Lt. David Jensen with the Depoe Bay Fire District.
Firefighters then attach a tether to EMILY and use a remote control to get her to the victim.
This weekend, it took her only about 15 seconds to reach the distressed swimmers.
"EMILY went right straight to the father and the son, directly to them, they latched onto it just perfect, our crew was able to pull them right back in," Walling said.
"It worked out flawlessly, it worked out just how we trained for it to work, and it was indispensable in this particular event," Jensen said.
Firefighters say before having EMILY on their team it would have taken a rescuer upward of 30 minutes to save the victims. With EMILY, it took only about ten minutes.
"Very important, not only with being able to rescue somebody in the time frame but also not exposing our personnel and our swimmers to the elements," Walling said.
Firefighters say now that they've seen how well EMILY performed during the actual emergency over the weekend, they feel more confident in her abilities if they were to ever have to use her again during another water rescue.