MT. VERNON (WMIX) – Mt. Vernon firefighters were busy Wednesday morning, starting just after 3 a.m., when they responded to a report of a house fire on South 12th Street.
Fire Chief Kevin Sargent says when firefighters arrived, they found flames and embers from the vacant house at 1501 S. 12th blowing in the heavy winds and catching nearby trees and grass on fire.
Eventually a home directly across the street at 1506 S. 12th St. also caught fire.
Sadly that home was occupied and its resident, Corey Mitchell, reportedly lost everything in the fire. Chief Sargent says Red Cross is assisting Mitchell, a local gymnastics and tumbling coach, with his immediate needs.
According to Chief Sargent, crews finished up at the dual scene around 6:30 a.m., with one firefighter remaining on the scene.
Then around 9:43 a.m., smoke was seen coming from the roofline of an also vacant house at 1507 S. 12th St., which was directly south of the original fire call.
Fire crews returned to battle the third fire of the morning in that block. Sargent says it’s believed embers from the original fire landed on the roofline of the third home where they smoldered until high winds whipped them up into flames. He says they believe the first fire was possibly caused by a squatter trying to keep warm.
