EPPING — Lauren Johnson is lucky to have two older brothers who can think on their feet.

Scott, 8, and Ryan, 11, are being called heroes after rescuing their 6-year-old sister, who almost strangled herself recently when she hooked a rope to the collar of her shirt and went down a slide outside their Epping home.

Lauren thought the rope was like a bungee cord and that she would spring back up the slide, just like Scott did last summer when he was attached to a cord while jumping on a trampoline at the Stratham Fair.

But her innocent game could have turned deadly if not for her quick-thinking brothers who were outside near the swing set and saw their sister hanging by a rope halfway down the slide and gasping for air.

“I was scared she might die,” said Ryan, who was recognized for his heroic actions at last week’s board of selectmen’s meeting, along with Scott. Both boys were awarded certificates by selectmen and Fire Chief Don DeAngelis.

The incident occurred May 13 — Mother’s Day — while the three kids were playing outside after dinner. Their father, Larry, was nearby and their mother, Nancy, was inside the house on the second floor where she could see the kids.

At some point, Lauren decided to remove a rope that was clipped to a bucket attached to a pulley system. The rope is used to raise and lower the bucket for their fort. She took the rope, clipped it to her shirt collar, and headed down the slide. The other end of the rope was still attached to the pulley.

Nancy said she saw Lauren go down the slide but noticed that she came to a sudden stop about halfway down. A tree partly obstructed Nancy’s view, so she didn’t know that her daughter was being choked by a rope pulling on her shirt.

Ryan quickly realized what was happening when he looked over. “I could hear her gurgling really loud,” he said.

Recalling the lessons he learned about rope safety last year in Boy Scouts, Ryan said he knew that he could loosen the rope by pushing Lauren back up the slide.

“I thought, if it was around her neck, I knew that she wouldn’t be able to breathe, because I learned it in Boy Scouts,” Ryan said.

Scott, who’s also a Boy Scout, ran over to help as well as his brother tried to push. Scott raced up a rock wall, leaned over to the slide and unclipped the rope, freeing Lauren, who then slid to the bottom of the slide as her mother rushed outside to see what was happening.

“She was gasping to breathe,” Nancy said.

While Lauren was conscious and alert, Nancy brought her over and placed her on the porch. She had rope marks around her neck, and Nancy worried that may have suffered other injuries.

Lauren was rushed to the hospital. Nancy estimated that her daughter was being choked by the rope for about 30 seconds, but luckily suffered no serious injuries.

Nancy said the emergency room doctor told them that he didn’t know “how something like this didn’t turn out worse.”

Lauren said she wasn’t very scared during the ordeal because her brothers were there to help.

Nancy said she never thought her daughter would remove the rope and try to use it as a bungee cord, and she hopes other parents will talk to their kids about rope safety.

“If it weren’t for the efforts of Scott and Ryan Johnson, this incident would have had a different outcome,” Selectman Karen Falcone said. “Thanks to the quick actions of Scott and Ryan, they together saved Lauren’s life.”