Washington County, Oregon (KOIN) A family spending a day at a lake rush to the rescue of a group of children...

Evan Gibson and his family were at Hagg Lake in Washington County, Oregon, on Saturday (9/15) when they noticed a group of eight children struggling in the water...

The children — ranging in age from six to 13 — nearly drowned after falling off a hidden ledge in the water.

And that's when Gibson and some of his family came to their aid.

Ken Bilderback, Gaston Fire Department says, "they were just heroic. They had, they pulled all of the children out and had them on shore before the first sheriffs or fire crew arrived."

Gibson adds, "we come up quite often and so we were aware of the drop off, had been paying attention where they were, found out where they were before we started swimming. I think the important thing is if you can't swim you put on a life jacket. Even if you think you're safe just standing in the water, you need to have that life jacket."

The kids were taken to area hospitals after the mishap.