NOTE: This story was updated at 2:27 p.m. after Sheriff Hoss Mack's news conference.

(OBA®) – Orange Beach, AL – It’s a sad Baldwin County this morning after the drowning of Baldwin County Deputy Sheriff William Smith, 57, during a water rescue attempt in Fort Morgan on Sunday evening, June 6. According to Sheriff Hoss Mack, Smith was assigned to a new beach detail with another officer and when he was pulled from the water he was in cardiac arrest.

“He saw his need to put his life on the line to save somebody else’s and that’s what he did,” Mack said. “He saved a life yesterday.”

Smith was transported to the new South Baldwin freestanding emergency room in Gulf Shores where medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, Mack said.

“We do believe that riptides were increasing as this was occurring and the growing surf also played a part in the incident,” Mack said.

Another officer who participated in the rescue, Deputy Sydney Wentworth, was transported from the scene to South Baldwin Regional Hospital and was released from the hospital later in the evening.

Mack said Wentworth went into the water to help Adrienne Korecky but she herself became distressed. A beach service attendant then entered the water to help the pair who eventually made it to shore.

The beach attendant was then in trouble and, according to a news release from the Baldwin County Sheriff's office said someone grabbed him and said take this rescue buoy and swim to shore. The release said that person was Smith.

Korecky and the attendant were transported to local hospitals, the attendant to the South Baldwin freestanding ER and the Korecky to Springhill Hospital in Mobile. Mack said both have been released and are recovering at home.

Fort Morgan does not have a flag system in place but the county installed special road signs to alert visitors and residents to water conditions along Fort Morgan Road in unincorporated areas. Yellow flags signaling medium hazard were flown in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach on Sunday evening.

Mack said the two deputies are part of a new beach patrol started by the sheriff’s department in March to patrol the beaches during the busy vacation season. Both, and all officers assigned to beach patrol, received special training before the new patrol was launched, Mack said.

Smith came to Baldwin County from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s office and before that spent 30 years in the fire service in Georgia and Weaver, Alabama. He had been with Baldwin County for two years and was a resident of Gulf Shores.

In another incident, three fishermen off the coast of Dauphin Island were rescued by Coast Guard Mobile Sector. The men were fishing near Little Sand Island when their John boat capsized.