A small community in Quebec is rallying around a boy who came out of a coma Saturday after surviving a fire that killed the rest of his family.

"Everybody is devastated, even people who didn't know them," said resident Cathline Porcheron. "Everybody's sad."

Mathis Gagnon, 8, was the only survivor of a fire that killed his brother Felix, 2, and his four-year-old sister Lorie, as well as his father Patrick Gagnon, 37, and mother Karine Desrochers-Gauthier, 32.

The fire broke out on Tuesday, Dec. 23 at 2:30 a.m. in the family’s apartment building in Les Coteaux, Que. about 60 kilometres southwest of Montreal.

Mariette Lalonde-Desrochers, the boy’s great-grandmother, lived downstairs from the family but says she was unable to help.

Lalonde-Desrochers said Gagnon’s first words were “Are my parents dead?” after waking up in hospital.

“We need to give him the best future we can,” she said.

Now, Les Coteaux, a town of about 5,000 is rallying around Gagnon as he comes to terms with the tragedy.

“Not only from the community but from the province as a whole,” said Town Councillor Francois Deschamps. “We've had support from all of Quebec, we’ve had a flood of support coming in.”

Local firefighters are also planning to set up a roadblock on a nearby highway Sunday to help raise funds for Gagnon, and people are invited to drop off money at city hall.

Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, firefighters believe the blaze was started by a lit cigarette.

Lac St-François fire chief Michel Pitre said firefighters saw no smoke detectors in the apartment.

Desrochers said that the smoke detectors in the building often go off when people are cooking, so some residents remove them.

But Pitre urged people to keep their smoke detectors connected.

Friends of the family have set up a Facebook page to help support Lalonde-Desrochers’ eight-year-old grandson.

The boy has chosen to live with his aunt.

With files from CTV Montreal