On Wednesday January 8, 2025 Deputy Derek Perkins was on patrol and traveling the streets of Mt. Vernon when he noticed heavy smoke coming from just down the road.  As he continued to investigate, he discovered that a vehicle under an attached carport was on fire. 

The fire was quickly spreading onto the main portion of the residence.  Deputy Perkins, seeing that a vehicle was at the residence, made entry to home to see if anyone was inside.

Deputy Perkins located the homeowner sound asleep in her bedroom.  He awoke the resident as she was completely unaware of what was going on and got her out of the residence as the fire continued to spread.

The Mt. Vernon Fire Protection District arrived on scene shortly after and managed to contain the fire to a small portion of the residence and also extinguished the vehicle fire.

Without Deputy Perkins' quick actions, this house fire could have ended in the worst way.  Congratulations Deputy Perkins for being a true hero!