Morgan County Sheriff Rescues Dog from House Fire

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 16, 2021 at 3:03pm

The Morgan County Sheriff was in the right place at the right time to help a family pet yesterday.

Sheriff Mike Carmody happened to be driving by when a house in the 100 block of Kosciusko had caught fire yesterday morning. He says fire crews had not arrived yet but there was someone outside on the phone. He says he immediately stopped to see if he could help in any way.

We were off yesterday but I came up to check on the jailers and happened to drive by the house. I didn’t know if anyone was inside so I asked the neighbor and they said they didn’t know but they had heard a dog. So I made entry and there was nobody in the house but the dog was sitting there so I took it out.

It was just a little bitty dog. It literally, when I busted in the front door, came up and licked me on my hand. So it was a nice little dog. When I searched for anyone in the house, I took a blanket and wrapped it up and took it to PAWS.”

Lisa Jackson who is founder and president of PAWS animal rescue in Jacksonville has worked at the Morgan County Sheriff’s office for 16 years. Jackson says Carmody contacted her right away after securing the dog.

He called my cellphone and I was actually doing kennel at the time. He explained what had happened and asked if I would mind taking the dog in. So of course he came right over and I took the dog to the vet and had it checked to make sure there were no smoke inhalation problems or burns or anything and, the dog checked out fine as far as that goes.”

Jackson says the dog is a small Yorkie mix of some kind whose name is Diva. She says she spoke with the owner following the incident. Carmody says he found out from a neighbor who the homeowner was and where they worked. He said he first went by their place of business to try and drop Diva off directly, however, the owner was not scheduled to be at work that morning.

Carmody said when speaking to WLDS News this morning that he didn’t think it was as big of a deal as some were making it out to be. Jackson says she thinks he went above and beyond by helping Diva to get out of the house.

It was just nice to see, you know, given the temperatures outside and everything.

He’s just a good guy. Like I said I think he definitely went above and beyond and it’s very much in his character. He probably doesn’t think it was a big deal but, I know Diva does, I do and definitely, the owner does.”

Jackson says Diva was happy and healthy following her ordeal and that her owner came and picked her up this morning.