Eagle Scout helps save drowning girl

A local teenager has been hailed a hero after helping to save a little girl.

Warwick Eagle Scout Austin Irons helped to prevent the little girl from drowning after a group of cub scouts and boy scouts finished swimming at McDermott Pool in Warwick.

"We heard shouting for lifeguards...I didn't even think. It was like, just do it," Austin recalled on the experience.

Austin jumped into the water and with the help of a lifeguard helped to rescue the girl who was lying face down out of the pool.

The scout then ran to get a defibrillator while lifeguard Billl Coyne adminstered rescue breathing.

"After twelve rescue breaths she started coughing and her eyes opened and she started breathing on her own. Austin was there to help and he was very helpful in what he did and he should be proud of what he did," McDermott Pool Chief Lifeguard Bill Coyne told Eyewitness News.

Luckily, the girl was was fine, thanks in part to Austin's quick thinking.

Many called Austin a hero and praised him for his selfless actions.

"He definitely showed heroism and skill in exacting the rescue," said Scout Cub Master Scott Rice.

However, Austin wasn't calling himself a hero just yet, but rather said he did only what he was taught after over five years in the scouts.

"What I did exemplifies scout law and just doing what needs to be done for the good of the people," he said.

The scout leaders of his troop in Warwick, Troop One, have now nominated Austin for the Scout's third highest national award.