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'She was a great mother:' Mom of five and her two-year-old daughter die in camper fire in Georgia

Brigitte Walsh and her two-year-old daughter died in a fire Sunday morning. Her husband was severely burned trying to rescue them.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's a day that Brigitte Walsh's family will never forget.

On Jan. 23, a fire broke out at Walsh's family's camper in Camden County and killed the young mother of five and her two-year-old daughter, Juliette.

"It was the worst day I could ever imagine," Tonya Miller, Walsh's aunt, said.

"She was a great mother. The best I've ever seen anybody. She loved her husband. She was all about family. She was really, a great person all the way around," Miller said.

Walsh's family friend, Lacey Pierce, and Miller said the family was staying in the camper while saving for a house. They said Walsh's husband, Sean Walsh, rescued one child, and was severely burned trying to save Walsh and Juliette.

"He went to go back in and it combusted," Pierce said. "I don't know if it was the stove or what. It may have been, but something exploded in there, and that's when he got severely burned from trying to get to Brigitte and Juliette, and when it exploded, they had to basically drag him away from the fire because he was trying to go in."

"He was hysterical, he was still looking for them," Miller said.

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Sean Walsh is now being treated at the burn unit at UF Health Gainesville. Their daughter, Elaine, suffered a collapsed lung, smoke inhalation and burns on her chest. Miller and Pierce said she's recovering.

Juliette was set to turn three in August.

"She looked just like her daddy. She was just like Sean, just like her daddy," Pierce said.

"She was sweet. She would tell her brothers and sister 'just stop' all the time because she just thought she ruled everything and everyone, of course she's the youngest. She was always outside playing. She was on the go nonstop," Miller said.

The couple's three other children stayed at their grandparents' house the night of the fire. One of the family's dogs also died in the fire. 

Camden County Fire Rescue officials said they're investigating the cause of the fire with help from the State Fire Marshal's Office. 

“I do know one thing, that Camden County Fire and Rescue and the police officers that showed up, I've never witnessed anything like that before. I've never seen anything like that, but they are awesome, awesome people. And I look at their jobs, I know their jobs are hard, but I look at it in a completely different perspective now seeing what they had to do," Pierce said.

Pierce and Miller said the fire destroyed the family's camper and all of their belongings. 

They started a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses. 

RELATED: Family starts fundraiser after losing toddler, mother to fire in Camden County

RELATED: Three hospitalized with burns, smoke inhalation after apartment fire in Jacksonville

 

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