This can happen so fast - I'd like to know what the lifeguard was doing while this happened.
Years ago we were staying at the Hispaniola in SD [coincidentally, Mr. AE was the lifeguard there when he was very young] and we had 2 nephews and a niece with us at the pool one day. The youngest boy, about 6, went too deep down the incline, and in seconds he was in trouble. Mr. AE had gone into the restaurant, and the lifeguard had walked over to the towel stand. Before I could even react, that lifeguard FLEW across the cement and dove into the pool to pull the boy out. It could have ended much differently. Yes, he got a generous tip.