Mom Straps Baby In Carseat & Tosses Her Out Second-Story Window Just Seconds Before Taking Her Final Breaths - Video

A young mother who depart in a house f-ire is being called a hero because she managed to save her newborn daughter's life, authorities said Friday. Shelby Carter, 21, apparently secure her baby into a car seat, broke a second-floor window and dropped the child to the ground below, said Ed Foglesonger, chief of the volunteer fi-re department in Wyoming, Illinois. "I guess it's the motherly instinct to take care of their young," he told CNN. "We're all wondering why she didn't go out after the baby."

Fir-efight-ers found Carter's body in a room on the second floor. An auto-psy showed she depart of sm-ke inhalation, the Peoria Journal Star reported. "The house was engulfed in fla-mes," Stark County Sheriff Steve Sloan said in a statement. Carter "was a hero as she put her baby into a car seat and dropped the baby to the ground." A woman called 911 on Monday morning and said she was inside a bur-ing house and having trouble breathing, Foglesonger said. She didn't mention a baby, he said.

When fi-refigh-ters arrived, they moved a pile of discarded carpet on the ground so they could climb a ladder to a second-floor window, he said. That caused a car seat to roll toward the house. They looked inside the car seat and found Keana Davis. Fi-refig-hters rushed the baby to a nearby hospital. She was released and is now being cared for by relatives, Foglesonger said. Carter and the baby lived in the house with her mother and fiancé, Foglesonger said, but only Carter and the baby were home when the f-re broke out in the living room downstairs. The cause of the incident has not been determined.

The loss was a gut punch for the town of about 1,500 people southwest of Chicago, where everybody seems to know each other. For instance, Foglesonger said Carter's father works "works with me every day" at a company that makes boilers and water hea-ters. "Words can not express the way we truly feel," the f-ire department said in a Social media post.

Carter celebrated her birthday the day before her depart. She graduated from the local high school in 2014, worked as a nail technician and was studying to become a pharmacy technician, her obituary said. "She was making her mark in town," Mayor Pat Maher said. "She was very upbeat, always smiling."

This is how people reacted to this post:

Sandra Hoglan - I dont know what happened but am sending prayers that way, sounds tra-gic.

Jeannie Kidd - Prayers for the family, first responders, the community of Wyoming and this sweet baby.

Sheri Copple - An account is being set up at Better Banks for cash donations.

Mandy Carter - Update: baby has a crib and bassinet. Formula will be Enfamil. We want to thank everyone for the generosity. Can not thank you enough.

This Article Was First Published on cnn.com