The Cape Breton community of Port Hawkesbury, N.S. is in mourning after a fire Friday night led to the death of a young boy.
Nine-year-old Oaklee Bagley died Monday morning at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax from injuries sustained in the fire.
His mother Amanda remains in hospital in critical condition.
Officials say the boy and his mother were the only people in the home on Bourinot Drive when flames broke out in the kitchen.
On Monday, a memorial of flowers and other tributes was growing in the family’s front yard.
“It’s just too hard to take. Especially when you have, he was my grandkids age,” said local resident Jim Bowden.
“Everyone’s just devastated for their family,” said neighbour Bobbi MacDougall.
“My mom is the one who call 9-1-1, and she just goes in her head, she wishes it was sooner.”
RCMP say Oaklee and his mother managed to escape the house fire, but were both badly burned. They were transported to Halifax hospitals over the weekend.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“The fire marshal’s office attended and examined the scene. We have not received a report back from them yet, and we still have to interview the female that was at the scene,” said RCMP Cpl. John Landry.
Port Hawkesbury Volunteer Fire Chief Curtis Doucet said the house is nearly destroyed.
“Very extensive damage. All the gyprock is down inside. It’s pretty much burned up,” Doucet said.
Neighbours say Amanda, a single mom, was very close with her son.
“They were always together, they were two peas in a pod. You never saw one without the other,” said MacDougall.
Students at the local elementary school were not in class on Monday, but the school was open in the afternoon to serve as a community grief centre.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie
