CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A man is left without his wife and daughter after a fire broke out at their Cartersville home on Sunday.
The fire chief said when crews got to the home off Oakdale Drive, Taylor and Lennon Hammonds were trapped inside the home and firefighters did everything they could to try to rescue them.
Battalion chief Hagen Champion says Taylor's husband had already made it out of the plumes of smoke, so all efforts went towards trying to save Taylor and baby Lennon.
Colleagues describe her as calm, gentle and parent.
Taylor was a paraprofessional for special needs students at Pine Log Elementary school in Rydal, just outside of Cartersville. They said on social media that her passing "instantly left a void in her classroom and school community that can never be filled."
According to the Bartow County Schools, Hammonds was an Adairsville High School graduate, had roots in Bartow County and "quickly found her second home at PLES."
The chief says the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. We also asked if there were working smoke detectors in the home, officials say finding that out is part of the investigation.