Exclusive: Off-Duty Firefighter Helps Toddler Who Nearly Drowned

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIRAMAR (CBSMiami) -- Don Marshall had just gotten home from his shift with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue when he heard his neighbor, sounding frantic.

"I heard the grandmother crying out, Josh! Josh! Josh!" he told CBS4's Natalia Zea.

Marshall looked out his window and saw an image he will never be able to forget -- a 2-year-old boy almost entirely submerged in the lake behind his home.

"I saw he was about like 15, 20 feet out in the water, with his head, I could just see the rim of his face."

If that weren't alarming enough, he recognized the face of the toddler struggling to stay above water. It was his godson.

"I'm coming down the stairs, like 'oh my God!' I just couldn't believe it."

Thankfully the boy's grandmother had quickly noticed he was missing and rushed to rescue him.

"By the time I got downstairs, she already went into the water, pulled him out of the water, and he was conscious and alert, just coughing up water, what have you," Marshall said.

He checked his vitals and listened to his lungs.

"He vomited right here in front of the house, so that was more evidence to go ahead and call 911 to let him get further evaluated medically."

The close call left Marshall shaken. He hopes this will serve as a reminder to anyone caring for young kids to teach them to swim and to watch them closely.

As a paramedic he's seen many of these incidents end in tragedy.

"Sometimes you have happy endings, sometimes you have sad. In this case it was a happy ending."

Police say this appears to be simply an accident. At this point, no one is facing charges. Josh is staying overnight at Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital where he is being held for observation. He is expected to be fine.