But now Stephen Hunter is full of praise:

An investigation into the incident has now concluded and chief fire officer Stephen Hunter praised the actions of Mr Brown. ...
“After carrying out a dynamic risk assessment, the officer in charge of the incident put in place all necessary safety procedures before effecting rescue. Their actions on that evening reflect the proud traditions of the fire and rescue service.”

I love it: "After carrying out a dynamic risk assessment..."

That'll be a reaction to bad publicity, then.

"It is important to stress that at no time during this investigation did principal managers indicate that any firefighters involved in this incident would be the subject of a disciplinary investigation. This myth has been perpetrated by the Fire Brigades Union."
- Stephen Hunter, 27/3/07

"We are investigating exactly what happened, and once that is concluded we will consider what action is necessary. That could include disciplinary action."
- Stephen Hunter, 26/3/07

I agree with the post. I could try and say something clever, but no, to my mind, if you see a drowning person, you dive in and try to save them. It's called being a human being, and fuck all their politically correct bollocks.
On a personal note though, the fact that I cannot swim has always posed a dilemma to me - what would I do in that situation? I would like to hope that I would still dive right in and do my best, regardless.

Well, pragmatism's important in danger. Diving in when you can't swim would be no use, and might well make the situation worse. Your energy would be better spent on finding as many floating things as possible to throw in.