Indiana County mom who lost 7-year-old daughter in fire works to create nonprofit in her memory

An Indiana County woman is working to create a nonprofit in memory of her 7-year-old daughter who died in a fire last October.

Kelsie Rowland said the fire broke out at her ex-husband's home on Caroline Street in Indiana County.

"I had two daughters that were in the PICU at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. My one survived. Her name is Halee. She's still recovering. She's had a long, long recovery," Rowland said.

Her other daughter, Brenlee, didn't make it.

"Unfortunately, she died of smoke inhalation, causing brain damage that made her brain dead," Rowland said.

Rowland is now turning the pain of losing her daughter into purpose by creating Brenlee's Closet in her memory.

"In honor of her, and because I can't let her die, I want to be able to do more for other people that are struggling," Rowland said.

The idea, inspired by Brenlee, would provide gently used clothing and shoes to families who lost everything in a fire.

"She was the kind that wanted to help everybody. She very often would give her cousins her clothes, just because. Brand new outfits that we would buy her, and she would just give them away," Rowland said.

Rowland said her goal is to have her own storefront where she can collect items and be a place where families in need can go.

"I can put them in and organize them by gender, age and season, and then if there were an incident, you know, my location would be available," Rowland said.

Rowland said she and her sister are working to get a 501(c)(3) to kick start the nonprofit while also working to raise funds for her local fire departments to bring more fire safety awareness to the area.

"What I want to do is, whenever I lived in South Carolina for a short period of time, at every home show, fair, town gathering, etc., the fire department pulled out this. It was like a movable two-story shed, and they would put a fog machine in it to simulate a house being up in smoke," Rowland said.

Rowland said the fire safety training trailer offers realistic and immersive fire safety education for kids.

"Fire departments would put them through this interactive educational module and they would go through the smoke," Rowland said. "I think if I could bring that up here, it might help the kids understand, because you can tell a kid until you're purple in the face how to get out, but they're kids, their attention span is very short, and they're not going to remember when they're in that environment."

Rowland said she's already discussed the idea with her local fire departments who said they're on board with the idea, but funding is needed.

"I would like to get the funding in place for the fire departments to be able to do that. You know, so they can go around to the schools and they would be able to haul this with them and share between the counties, because I know it can be pretty pricey, and get the kids involved in it," Rowland said. "I feel like if we were to put them in a mock one, they would understand, 'Hey, I've been through this. I know how to get out of this.'"

Rowland said she believes this kind of awareness could help save a life while also keeping Brenlee's spirit alive.

"I really thought she was going to pull through after the fire, but when she didn't, I fully believe that she, her soul, went into my daughter, Halee," Rowland said. "I fully believe that Brenlee is still with us."

If you would like to donate to the cause, click here. You can also reach out to Kelsie Rowland at Kelsie.walker1995@gmail.com or Lauren Walker at lwalker82797@gmail.com.

KDKA-TV reached out to the state police fire marshal in regard to the fire in October. A spokesperson said the fire was ruled as accidental with the cause being electrical in nature.