A mother from Illinois is being hailed as a hero for saving her baby from a house fire at the cost of her own life.
In the fire, Shelby Carter, 21, apparently placed her baby in a car seat and broke a window before she dropped the child to the ground, fire official Ed Foglesonger told Fox59.
“I guess it’s the motherly instinct to take care of their young,” he told the station. “We’re all wondering why she didn’t go out after the baby.”
“You put yourself in that situation and you know it wouldn’t be easy,” Stacy Unhold, a family friend, explained, according to KWQC-TV.
Carter’s body was found inside a room of the second floor, the Peoria Journal Star reported.
“The house was engulfed in flames,” Stark County Sheriff Steve Sloan stated. Carter “was a hero as she put her baby into a car seat and dropped the baby to the ground,” Sloan aadded.
An autopsy found that she died of smoke inhalation, according to the Journal Star.
A GoFundMe was started for the family, which has raised more than $36,000. “They have lost everything and need our help,” it said, adding that the house was totally destroyed in the fire.
During the incident, firefighters sent the baby to a nearby hospital before she was released and is now being cared for by her family, Foglesonger said.
