Boy Hailed as Hero for Saving Brother

A 6-year-old boy was honored Wednesday for saving his infant brother who had fallen into a man-made lake.

Austin Shirley was dressing for afternoon kindergarten on May 20 when he heard his 18-month-old brother, Cameron, yell for help.

Austin said his brother had climbed over the back fence and was trying to retrieve an oar floating in the water when he slipped into the lake at the edge of their Lakeside Village property.

Austin, who has taken summer water safety classes since he was 9 months old, climbed the fence and pulled Cameron out of the water.

“I think Cameron saw the ducks and the oar in the water and went after the oar,” Austin said. “I heard him yell for help and climbed the fence and then I yelled for help and pulled him out. . . . If he was underwater, I would have dived in, but he was just at the shore.”

Nance Shirley, the boys’ mother, said she had told Austin several times that day to get dressed for school in his bedroom, but for some reason he brought his clothes and was dressing outside in his underclothes.

Austin said he wanted to get dressed and play with Cameron, she said.

“It’s kind of an odd blessing that he decided to get dressed outside. I had gone inside to get something and wasn’t paying attention, and all of a sudden Austin said, ‘Cameron was in the lake, but it’s OK because I got him out.’ ”

Shirley said it took four days before she was able to talk about the incident without crying. She said the family will install wrought-iron fences along the perimeter of the property to prevent similar close calls.

Keith Smith, a Thousand Oaks firefighter and father of one of Austin’s classmates, honored the youngster Wednesday by presenting him with a firefighter’s hat for his heroism.

Austin spent the next two weeks after the incident looking for people to rescue, Shirley said. “Austin was on patrol.”