A 30-year-old man’s life could have been cut short Tuesday night if it wasn’t for a good Samaritan who was near Monument Creek and saw the man in the water.

The good Samaritan’s identity is unknown.

But what Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Catherine Buckley knows is that the passerby pulled the man out of the raging creek and onto the bank just after 10 p.m. The Samaritan then called for help. Armed with a strobe light, he directed firefighters to a bridge at North Sierra Madre and West Bijou streets, just northwest of downtown Colorado Springs, Buckley said.

When paramedics arrived, the man was unconscious and “in serious medical condition,” said Capt. Steve Oswald, a Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesman. “The male was very wet and showed severe signs of hypothermia.”

Firefighters “had to work their way up a steep slope” to get the man, whose name has not been released, to an ambulance by 10:53 p.m., Oswald said. He was treated for hypothermia at a hospital.

Police have tried to contact the good Samaritan, but as of Wednesday morning, they had not been able to reach him.

“We obviously would like to recognize his actions,” Buckley said, adding that she’s not sure if the man acted alone. “He more than likely saved this man’s life.”

The area where the rescue happened is known to be frequented by homeless people.

Buckley warned everyone to stay away from creeks during and after heavy rainfall. Tuesday’s storms brought in .31 inches of rain at the Colorado Springs Airport, the most since Aug. 16, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

“We want to remind people whenever we have those types of storms,” she said, “our creeks swell and they can become very dangerous.”