We’ve all met someone like Lieutenant Michael J. Salber, the guy who is in peak physical condition, excels at every athletic endeavor he attempts, considers rescuing people his hobby and seems downright invincible—a real-life super hero, as his girlfriend Melanie Haire described him over the phone this morning.

Mike (left) and Zane Salber raced three P1 SuperStock USA races this season before the accident in Jacksonville, Fla. Photo courtesy P1 SuperStock USA

Unfortunately for those closest to Salber, he wasn’t invincible like many of his friends, family members and fire department brethren imagined. Last Saturday, Salber died in an unfortunate accident when two P1 SuperStock USA raceboats crashed during the Jacksonville Grand Prix of the Sea on the St. Johns River (read the story).

Salber, a 56-year-old Lieutenant in the Sanford Fire Department in Central Florida, was racing alongside his son, Zane, who escaped the accident without serious injury, when the Rapid Building Solutions V-bottom he was driving collided with the Frank and Al’s Pizza boat and flipped.

“I thought if anyone would survive a boat accident, it would be Michael,” Haire said. “He was the safety diver, the person who rescues others and he was phenomenal at his job. He never took on something is he wasn’t sure of himself. I know the rescue team did everything they in its power to save him.”

Read more: Real-Life Super Hero

Related stories
P1 SuperStock USA Driver Dies In Jacksonville Race Accident