Officer rescues woman from burning home in Mounds, Ill.

MOUNDS, Ill. -- A police officer rescued a resident from a burning home early Thursday morning, the Mounds Police Department reported.

Officer Aubrey Edwards was on routine patrol about 1:30 a.m. Thursday when he noticed smoke coming from a home at 130 S. McKinley St., according to a news release from chief Lloyd A. Bosecker Jr. of the Mounds Police Department.

A resident was on the front porch but went back inside, at which point Edwards went into the home, helped the occupant to safety and called the Mounds Fire Department, the release stated.

Firefighting crews from Mounds and Mound City, Ill., responded. Firefighters stayed on the scene all night, but the home was a total loss, the release stated.

Edwards -- an Illinois Department of Corrections employee who has been a member of the Mounds Police Department for more than a year -- took the resident to a family member's home, the release stated.

The Southern Illinoisan reported the resident, Ruby Powell, may have gone back into the house because she was disoriented by the fire.

She was unhurt in the fire, which remains under investigation but is not believed to be suspicious, the Southern Illinoisan reported.

Mounds is in Pulaski County, about eight miles north of Cairo, Ill.

Pertinent address:

130 S. McKinley St., Mounds, Ill.