Lynbrook High School Teacher Called 'Hero'

Jeff Bale, a social studies teacher at Lynbrook High School, is being hailed as a hero after resuscitating a 6-year-old girl Wednesday night who was found at the bottom of a pool along with her father.

Another man, whose identity has not been released but is reported to be a family friend, pulled the man and the girl out of the pool around 8:55 p.m. Wednesday at the Regency Park Townhomes off Bollinger Road and Miller Avenue, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Both the man and the girl were taken to the hospital. They have been released and are doing well, according to San Jose Fire Department Capt. Mary Gutierrez.

Bale said he doesn't feel his actions were extraordinary; he was simply helping his friends, a spokeswoman for the fire department said.

The mother was in a nearby hot tub when she realized that it had become eerily quiet at the pool where the father and daughter had been playing, according to an ABC report.

The mother was already attempting CPR when Bale arrived, and Bale's mother, Linda Bale, dialed 911.

"The mother of the girl said she did not know CPR, so I took over, and within a minute or so, she was coughing up, so we turned our attention to the man," Bale told ABC. "It was kind of a scary moment."

Bale is trained in CPR but has only worked on training mannequins, he said.

"I was certainly nervous," Bale said. "When it's a real person, it's different than a test dummy."

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.