It happened Thursday afternoon in Marsh Creek along Partridge Lane in Raleigh. While the children are all safe, there were terrifying moments when they were stuck hanging on a frail tree branch over rushing waters.
"I said, you guys need to get out of here. You shouldn't be playing here because it's going to get worse. And I came back into the house maybe 15 minutes later. I hear screaming and yelling," neighbor Mike Kallam said.
Those cries for help came from Kallam's backyard, where three children were stranded perilously in fast-moving water.
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This group of friends Kelly, Evelyn, Emma, Gavin and Andrew -- ranging in age from 8 to 12 -- made a stop during their bike ride to cross the rushing waterway. Once two got across the other three were stuck on the wet and slick rocks.
"Andrew, Evie and me, we couldn't get across," Kelly described. "Andrew held on to a branch and then it snapped. So he fell down, and like, he slid down and he held on to, like, a tree trunk."
That's when the kids and Kallam both called 911 for help.
"What am I going to do? Nobody can hold me to try to get out there and do anything. So that's when we decided we need to call in the professionals here to get something done," said Kallam.
More than 30 firefighters and rescue swimmers of Raleigh Fire Department instantly got a boat into the creek.
Video obtained by ABC11 shows crews using a rope to anchor a swimmer to help pull the kids into the large blue raft.
"The most scariest thing about that was that when the firefighters were here -- Kelly was like, she was holding on to the branches, but she was like, she was so close to slipping and falling, and like, one foot was up, and she couldn't and she couldn't come back up," Evelyn said.
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Crews said the kids followed directions during these uncertain moments. As the kids were wrapped in towel, they were reunited with their parents after a frightening afternoon.
"It was it was great to have the response that we did," Kallam said.
Plenty of lessons were learned by this adventurous group of friends.
"Don't cross water with rocks, because at first the water looks like it's like so calm and you can just walk through. But then you realize the rocks everywhere underneath you. And it's not calm," Emma said.
"You should not come here, because this will happen to you," Andrew said.
Rescue crews want everyone to take precautions.
"We are so happy that our crews were able to get these children to safety. They were able to get out of this water quickly. But we don't want to count on that. Please stay home. Please stay out of the water," said Dr. Jamie Cheveralls with Raleigh Fire Department.