Georgia girl Katelynn Simmons, 11, dies trying to save her puppy from housefire at family home [Video]

11:46 EDT 09 Apr 2024 , updated 11:59 EDT 09 Apr 2024

An 11-year-old girl died after she tried to save her puppy from a house fire at her family’s Georgia home. 

Katelynn Simmons ran back into the burning house in Spalding County, about 40 minutes from Atlanta, on Saturday night to try and rescue her dog ‘Little Man’ from the flames. 

Spalding County Fire Chief Mike Byrd told WSB-TV the fire ‘was visible from a mile away,’ after his team were called to the home around 5.30pm. 

Once firefighters arrived, they immediately started to search for Katelynn in the ‘well advanced’ blaze. The team soon located her upstairs, but it was too late to save her. 

The little girl’s step-aunt, Tressia Perry, said Katelynn’s step-father and step-uncle attempted to go back in to save her, but ‘they couldn’t get in.’ 

‘Katelynn, she’s like us, an animal lover. She went upstairs and got that puppy,’ her uncle, Charles Beecher, told Fox 5…