Local man is recognized as a hero after saving woman from house fire

JACKSON, Tenn. — It was a frightening Sunday afternoon back on Aug. 26 for Heather Patterson. Her house caught fire with her mother still inside.

“I run outside, called 911, and as I’m speaking to the dispatch, I’m screaming,” Patterson said. “Nobody was outside. Screaming for help, screaming for help.”

She says if it weren’t for her neighbor Colin Ross, it could have been much worse.

“He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t hesitate to ask me questions, and he just told me, he literally just told me he was doing what God was telling him to do,” Patterson said.

She says she was grateful that neither Colin nor her mother were seriously hurt.

“As I ran around outside, I open that door, and her mom met me at the door,” Ross said. “So I picked her mama up.”

Patterson shared a Facebook post about the local hero who saved her mother’s life, letting everyone know the hero that he is.

“I felt like me thanking him in the picture I posted to share on Facebook, about him being my hero, saving my mothers life,” Patterson said. “She’s all I have left.”

As for Patterson’s mother, she is doing well, although still in a delicate state as she’s disabled.

“I’m in shock still. I’m blessed. I’m getting chill bumps,” Patterson said. “My house might be a total loss — it was my grandparents house — but my mother is still alive thanks to him.”

And although the home that was passed down from her grandmother is gone, Patterson is forever thankful she didn’t lose something even more valuable.

“Our community needs to realize that heroes are everywhere and you might not even know it,” Patterson said.

Patterson says the cause of the fire is still under investigation.