PAYNE SPRINGS– The quick thinking of lake visitors saved the life of a local two-year-old boy who had fallen off of a boat dock into the lake June 18. The visitors sat enjoying their evening on the lake and spotted the boy walking by the lake alone with no life jacket on.
They had noticed the boy earlier in the day out with family and he had always been wearing a life jacket. While watching the boy, the visitors saw the boy fall off the end of the boat dock. The people across the cove immediately took action and a gentleman grabbed a life jacket and swam across the channel. 
He grabbed the boy who was now face down in the water, unconscious, and not breathing. Fortunately, the gentleman who grabbed the boy out of the water was trained to administer CPR. The boy responded to the CPR by coughing and vomiting up water and then began to breathe on his own.
Volunteers of Payne Springs Fire Rescue (PSFR) were alerted of the incident at 8:42 p.m. As the call was first coming in, the exact address was not known but it was known to be in the Esquire Estates area. Multiple PSFR units and UT Health EMS responded to the area.
As units were responding, the call was updated with an actual address and that the subject that had been in the water was a two-year-old boy. UT Health Air 1 West was launched as well to PSFR Station 3.
PSFR Chief 1 arrived first to find the two-year-old barely conscious. While performing a patient assessment, the boy started to become more alert and began to respond and cry. EMS arrived and assumed patient care with the child continuing to improve. The boy was transported to Children’s Hospital Dallas via Air 1. PSFR received word on the morning of June 19 that the boy was doing well and was being released from the hospital.
“Without these visitors responding there would have been a much different outcome to this call,” said PSFR in a social media statement. “We highly encourage everyone to get CPR trained. You never know when you may be in the position to save someone’s life.”