Island Lake cop's shift was over, but his heroics began when a keyboard caught on fire

The call came about 2:30 p.m. on a steamy Thursday in May, just after Island Lake police officer Jason DeMark pulled into the station to end his shift.

Dispatches to assist the fire department can be as routine as someone locked out of their home, so DeMark said he didn't think much of the initial notification. Then came reports of smoke in a residence.

DeMark and fellow officer Rich Colasuono jumped in their cars and charged to the single-story ranch home about a mile away. DeMark got there first. He didn't see any sign of fire when he rolled up, but he noticed the front door was open.

"When I walked up to the door and saw the flames, it caught me off guard," he said. "But it kind of triggered the instant response - you fall back on your training."

Minutes earlier, DeAnn Meagher was taking a photo of her sleeping 2-month-old grandson, Seth, whom she was baby-sitting that afternoon.

"Within five minutes, the fire alarm went off," said Meagher, who can't walk and was using a scooter to get around. "There was smoke coming out of the keyboard on the computer."

She called 911 and tried to get the still-sleeping Seth on her lap, but she couldn't manage. She started yelling for help.

"I said, 'Help me, we've got to get out!'" she recalled.

Hearing her calls, DeMark rushed in, scooped up the infant and took him outside. A minute and a half later, smoke was pouring from the room that was ablaze.

"If he wasn't here, we wouldn't have survived because the smoke came so quickly," Meagher said. "My daughter, Shannon (Seth's mother), still gets tears in her eyes."

Outside, DeMark handed the infant over a fence to a responding firefighter, but his day wasn't quite done.

"(Meagher) started screaming about the dogs," he said.

DeMark rescued Luna, a Husky, from the home's garage. He couldn't find Bentley, a Cavalier King Charles/Bichon mix, but the dog was tracked down and rescued by firefighters.

DeMark, 28, studied law enforcement and emergency management at Western Illinois University, where he also was a volunteer firefighter. He joined the Island Lake force in February 2017.

His actions in May earned him a lifesaving award and was one of the reasons he was named Officer of the Year by village officials.

"I think back on it as a unique experience, but it's one of those things - it's just part of the job," he said.

"It might be something that happens again next week and it may not happen again in my career. It's nothing any officer here wouldn't do," he said.

DeMark periodically checks in with the family, as he did a few weeks ago when Seth's mom was walking Luna. She said it was no exaggeration to say he saved her mom, child and dogs.

"Without him and the Wauconda Fire Department's ridiculously quick response and preparedness, our story would be dramatically different," she posted on Facebook.

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