Firefighters in the Quebec town of Les Coteaux are collecting donations for the boy whose parents and two siblings were killed in a fire just before Christmas.
Mathis Gagnon, 8, woke up in hospital on Christmas Day from the coma he’d been in since Dec. 23. His great-grandmother said he asked right away if his parents were gone.
Gagnon was the only survivor of the apartment fire that killed his father Patrick Gagnon, 37, mother Karine Desrochers-Gauthier, 32, as well as his two-year-old brother Felix and four-year-old sister Lorie.
Members of the small community have come together to support Gagnon, with local firefighters setting up a roadblock and taking donations from slowing cars on a nearby highway to raise funds. People are also invited to drop off donations at the Metro supermarket or town hall in neighbouring Saint-Zotique.
More than $40,000 has been raised so far for the young boy, who will live with his aunt and her family when he leaves the hospital.
“We've had some people from Florida sending us emails to support the family,” said town councillor Francois Deschamps. “We've also had some people from Germany, from France, who have been supporting us as well.”
A memorial page for the family has also been set up on Facebook.
The incident is still under investigation, though firefighters believe a lit cigarette was the cause of the blaze.
Lac St-François fire chief Michel Pitre said firefighters saw no smoke detectors in the apartment.
