Firefighters are trained to rescue people—not the other way around. But that's exactly what happened on the Fourth of July when a whale breached beneath a fire department boat in New Jersey, turning a routine marine patrol into an extraordinary survival story. According to the Carteret Fire Department & EMS Division, Marine Unit 2 was returning from a regional marine security assignment in New York Harbor when disaster struck near the mouth of Raritan Bay. Without warning, a surfacing whale slammed into the stern of the vessel, causing what officials described as "catastrophic damage." The impact was so severe that the boat immediately began taking on water, "leaving the firefighters aboard only seconds to abandon the vessel." The dramatic aftermath was captured in videos and photos showing the damaged rescue boat partially submerged while emergency crews and nearby civilians rushed to help.…