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2-year-old dies in Taneytown house fire

By: Dakarai Turner

Posted at 5:40 PM, Mar 22, 2017

and last updated 2017-03-23 07:22:06-04

A 2-year-old girl died in a house fire in Taneytown Wednesday.

According to officials, another toddler escaped the fire in the attic where the flames were contained.

But for the neighbor who called 9-11 after seeing the flames from next door, she's haunted by a conversation she had with the child's mother as the woman sat nearby.

One neighbor said the little girls name is Harper.

firefighters were called to the 100 block of W. Baltimore St. just after 3:30 p.m.

Small flames, along with the smoke, could be seen coming from inside.

No one is sure exactly what happened when the fire broke out, but the child's mother told neighbor Amanda Coca-Henriquez, soon after, that she rushed into the fire.

"She was able to get the one child, but when she turned to try to go back to get the baby, it was too much smoke and she had to come back out," said Coca-Henriquez.

The news came as a shock to many in the community where neighbors watched investigators from the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

A spokesman for the office said access to the attic made rescue efforts difficult for crews.

"This is a classic example of had this been a home that had residential fire sprinklers, this would be a non event, because the sprinklers would have activated at the early onset of the fire and would have saved that child's life," said deputy state fire marshal Bruce Bouch.

The cause of the fire hadn't yet been determined but investigators are working actively to find it.

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2-year-old dies in Taneytown house fire

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