Fired Florida Lifeguard Offered Job Back, Declines It [VIDEO]

The Florida lifeguard who was fired after leaving his post to help rescue a swimmer outside his zone will be offered his job back, but he says no thanks.

Jeff Ellis, head of a company that provides lifeguards at Hallandale Beach, tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Tomas Lopez was fired too quickly.

Ellis says no area of the beach his company patrols was left unattended while Lopez went to assist a swimmer in distress. The victim survived and was hospitalized.

Lopez was fired shortly after on grounds he'd broken a company rule by leaving his section of the beach that the company was being paid to patrol.

Ellis said Thursday Lopez should never have been fired. But Lopez says he's not interested in taking the job back.