A woman and her 2-year-old daughter were killed Friday morning after a fire broke out inside a Palm Bay house.

The woman has been identified as Shenea Gates, 27. The girl has been identified as 2-year-old Rhilynn Gates.

The fire broke out just before 9 a.m. at a home on the 2800 block of Foxglove Avenue Southwest.

The Palm Bay Fire Department said a Waste Management employee was working his route and saw smoke coming from the home.

  • 911 caller: "There's smoke coming out of the house. The garage door is open. There's a car and a truck out here. I banged the door, nobody opened the door. It looks like the garage door to get in the house ... it's on fire. I can see the black smoke coming through it."

When firefighters arrived, they found the woman and child inside the home. Paramedics began resuscitation, but the victims were pronounced dead at the  scene a short time later.

Kaley Dobson, a neighbor, knew something was wrong when she saw police cruisers and fire trucks on her street.

"Hitting this close to home — it's like my backyard," Dobson said.

Investigators said Gates was asleep and woke up to smoke filling the house. She went to find the source of the fire, opened the laundry room door and was overcome by smoke and flames.

Gates then tried to get back to her bedroom, but she wasn't able to escape. The girl was found in her bedroom. Both were found unresponsive, and paramedics tried to perform CPR on both, but it was too late.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but the State Fire Marshal's Office believes it was non-criminal in nature and most likely accidental. Officials said the home didn't have working smoke detectors.

The fire remains under investigation.