CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Tenn. — The Westel Community is mourning the loss of a 5-year-old girl in a house fire. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s office said authorities responded to a house fire call on Fall Creek Road on Sunday. When they arrived, they found 5-year-old Willow Carpenter and her 38-year-old mother, Andrea Cox.
The child died and crews took Andrea to the hospital. She used to live with her daughter and her boyfriend in the home, according to a family member, but her boyfriend wasn’t home when the fire started. The family member said one of his last memories of them was celebrating Christmas together.
Casey Cox, the Cumberland County Sheriff, said a family member was the one who dialed 911.
“So, around 5:22 p.m. Central Standard Time, the 911 center received an emergency call of a fully evolved structure fire with a child inside,” the sheriff said. “[The family members] live up the road from where the structured fire had occurred.”
The sheriff said while the 5-year-old girl was unable to escape the fire, her mother was severely injured and some of her injuries came after fighting to save her child.
“She’s still listed in a critical condition, she’s in Skyline Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She was airlifted to the hospital,” the sheriff said. “Our understanding, yeah, she was trying to get back into the residence to get to her child after the fire initially happened.”
It was a mobile home located in some woods, the sheriff said. He said when first responders arrived, it was difficult for them to get to the house because the path was wet from the rain.
The fire department had to overcome some huge obstacles.
“It’d been wet and muddy, it was challenging for the fire department to be able to get their units back there,” the sheriff said. “They did a good job. They actually got a couple of fire trucks stuck, but they were able to get back there and extinguish the fire as fast as possible.”
The family member told WBIR there was nothing left after the fire, just some metal and burned items. The is urging everyone to make sure to check their fire alarms and be certain they work properly.
This is an ongoing investigation, and the cause of the fire isn’t yet determined. The sheriff said a fire alarm may have not made a difference. The place had no power, no gas and no electricity.
“Most likely going to be undetermined,” the sheriff said. “The exact cause, it happened around a wooden burning stove, but what actually caused the fire right now is pretty difficult to determine what that cause was.”