Dorsey Carson's house caught fire while he and his family were traveling yesterday. The home was only partially burned but the damage was substantial. Unfortunately, there might have been an issue with the fire hydrant.
Mr. Carson gave thanks on social media:
Nothing but gratitude tonight. Our right hand, Aisha McKnight, discovered the house fire while pet sitting, jumped into action, and risked herself to save our pets. Our big Charlie Brown even knocked Aisha down to keep her from going back inside — though we’re still debating whether that was for Aisha’s safety or because he saw a chance to finally be rid of Cleo the cat. Huge thanks to the Jackson Fire Department. Your quick action and bravery saved our house — and our nine-lives cat, Cleo. We heard about your exhaustion from the action and heat. Thank you to our neighbors, who were calling while the fire was still raging. My mom, sister Jeanna, nephew Blake, and favorite carpenter Steve all sprang into action. Jeanna’s also my State Farm agent, and she had Restoration 1 (Fondren) at our house before the smoke stopped billowing. And John Curley was finishing up the tarp in the roof when we arrived just after noon. Wendy, Harli & Nate somehow wrangled all 4 pets to the vet. Shannon picked us all up at the Jackson airport, and Eric made sure we all had a good late lunch. Councilman Ashby Foote even called to apologize for the City because the fire hydrant was inoperable — not his fault, but a kind and appreciated gesture. We’ve had some tears. We’ll be in temporary housing for a while. But it could have been so much worse. We made it as far as Houston this morning, then turned back. Costa Rica will have to wait. We appreciate you all.
Kingfish note: JXN Water said the fire hydrant was operable.

33 comments:
The city always blame Jxn Water. The city blamed them
for the fire rating. I bet Jxn
Water has prove the hydrant
worked. They always document things.
I recall that the city has an ordinance (or JFD dept. regulation) that requires annual inspection of all hydrants. An Open Records request would reveal no proof. Great lawsuit waiting to be filed.
With all the problems Jackson Fire Dept has had lately (employees gong out and partying/getting drunk while on the clock, etc), did the JFD employees even know how to use a fire hydrant?
It's actually a hydrant, not "fire" hydrant, but that's ok. They are also used for things besides supplying fire apparatus. One example is filling water trucks.
But they can also be used to put out fires on JFD ladder trucks when they can't figure out how to move it away from the fire while they are too busy texting.
Maybe they should have a training session teaching the firemen how to use a hydrant.
Let the finger pointing, side stepping, and spinning begin. Right?
my concern goes back to the fire department essentially admitting it had not been maintaining fire hydrants and did not know where they all were.........which, if they will not take care of the fire stations (which also lack of care partially belongs to the city), then why would they provide care and proper maintenance to the fire hydrants. And, this deserves all the ill that can be delivered, as these are minimal responsibilities for departments, and directly affect our fire ratings / insurance rates
10:21, That's a good idea. But the city probably has immunity under Section 11-46-9(1)(c).
I'm glad everyone and all pets are safe. Things can be replaced and the home repaired in due course. One thing I love about our state is that our neighbors come to help us when we need them.
Costa Rico will be next on your agenda. If you haven't been there before, you'll love it. We do.
I live in the city of Jackson… I live in NE Jackson and city leadership loves to ignore us until tax day then they love white tax base… watch leadership finger point tans blame Jxn water. It’s laughable if it weren’t so sad. Oozing with incompetence. All of them
Before it was JXN water and just belonged to the city, I know a person who lost a house due to the fire hydrant not working (the department had to go several away to find one that worked). Ongoing issue, not JXN Water, and absolutely needs fixing, though I guess the insurance companies know now.
Dorsey’s family has endured tragedies this year…one after the other….deaths / hospitalizations of loved ones ….newly renovated home burning….cancelled deserved / needed R and R….and through it all Susan Dorsey and Hays smiling. Not one cross word. Lesson in how to live and love.
Can Jackson run anything in a competent manner? At all? I see no evidence they can. It’s total mismanagement.
I can assure you that Jackson is better managed than under the last administration. But it takes a long time to turn around an aircraft carrier and the city has major problems that no administration can fix with the current tax base.
@May 30, 2026 at 2:56 PM - I disagree. Waiting for a tax base -- one that continues to diminish -- as the way out, is a self-fulfilling prophecy for disaster. What you do is make hard decisions with the budget and direct funds where they do the most good over the nice-to-haves that only serve a fraction of the population...if that.
I haven't seen much change since Horhn got elected.They
held on to 1% money for months instead of bidding it
out to pave streets.
So far I cannot tell any difference in this mayor and the last one. Many problems could be fixed very quickly but we have yet to see even one.
JXN water came out and the fire hydrant worked. It is front of my house.
Hey 10:39 ... those things are FIRE hydrants.
Working or not, dogs even understand that fact.
In the fire service they are called hydrants, not “fire” hydrants. (Retired fire chief)
I can assure you that Jackson is better managed than under the last administration.
You mean Horhn isn't scamming the budgetary oversight and reporting process to hide the fact that the city was, at least, $23m in the red?
If gross incompetence was a crime, Lumumba would already be serving a life sentence.
Bless your heart, 10:39, but they are fire hydrants. Go back and read your post - you will understand why people avoid you at parties.
I was in the yard watching. The firefighters wasted about 10 min trying to open the closest hydrant which was painted shut. They eventually gave up and found another meter around the corner. Meanwhile, flames were shooting out of the roof of the house.
Name one decision Horhn has made where Chokwe wouldn’t have made the same one. There hasn’t been one common sense cut anywhere.
8:56, I’m not surprised structural firefighters refer to fire hydrants as simply hydrants. It’s a shorter term and everyone in the business knows what you are talking about. Kinda like wildland firefighters referring to a helicopter as simply a ship. It’s a shorter term and we all know what is being referred to in that context. But, to the world, it’s a fire hydrant; a hydrant is what people hook a garden hose to. The most definitive answer is on the manufacturers’ websites such as Mueller - they refer to their product as fire hydrants.
Well...I'm seeing a difference as I'm often a passenger and can look around. Many of the neighborhood streets and throughfares have been repaved. Young people are buying and remodeling the older homes. The shopping areas are busy as are the restaurants. And here's a heads up for the poorly informed, look at the traffic coming into Jackson every morning. There are still lots of people in the surrounding smaller communities who work in Jackson.
I live in northeast Jackson. and I don't like to fight traffic so I avoid early morning, 11am to 1 pm. and the hours the schools let out.
And there's a " convenience" and "time" factor ...when I lived in Madison, 41 minutes of every day was spent in the car. And, here I can get literally anything I need delivered to my door. " One call that's all" isn't about needing a lawyer to me.
Remember the fire that happened at the AG museum years ago. When the fire department hooked up to fire hydrants nearby, there were dry. This came under AG Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith. The museum didn't check the hydrants on the grounds. This never came out!
Good thing he is an attorney. He’s going to need it to make State Farm do what they are supposed to do in a claim like this.
The "Fire Hydrant vs Hydrant" debate would make a good episode of Celebrity Deathmatch...Same a "Water Heater vs Hot Water Heater"...Good luck changing that...
12:16, it could never get as contentious as the great toilet paper hanging debate, over vs. under
11:05 reminds of the admonishment I saw spray painted on the front of a house in Bay St. Louis after Hurricane Katrina: "Katrina took some, State Farm Took the Rest."
Or 12 Midnight instead of midnight.
That water thing that sits out at the edge of some people's yards that the fire dude hooks up to wet the fire out. Sometime its painted red.
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