MESA, Ariz. — What started as a relaxing float trip for Bill Davis and his wife last month nearly turned tragic, until a group of firefighters in the middle of a training exercise pulled him from the Salt River and saved his life.

On July 8, Davis, 75, of Prescott, and his wife were floating the river and watching wild horses.

At some point, the two became separated. Davis decided to pull off and wait for his wife to catch up, thinking the water was shallow enough to stand. He stepped off his tube and quickly realized he was in trouble.

“I kept going under. And finally, I just ran out of strength," Davis said. "There was nothing left, and I just started floating in the water."

Davis lost consciousness.

But what happened next is the most unbelievable part of the story: his body drifte

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