‘Please get my sister’: Neighbor rushes to help boy screaming outside fatal Clay house fire

Lawdon Street fire

Nezamiyah White, 8, was found dead after a fire Tuesday night in a bedroom on the second floor of the home on 124 Lawdon St., Clay. Her brother, 7, suffered burns on his hands and their grandfather was in critical condition, deputies said.Darian Stevenson | syracuse.com

Clay, N.Y. – A neighbor was watching TV in her living room Tuesday evening when she heard screams and rushed outside to see a child running from flames and smoke coming from the home next door.

The little boy ran out of the burning house on Lawdon Street wearing pants but no shoes or shirt, Nancy Hohler said. He was asking her to get his sister out of the home.

“He came running out and said, ‘please get my sister, please,’” said Hohler, 61, who has lived in the Clay neighborhood for the past 30 years. “And for a second I considered it. But with the smoke, I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.”

She was worried the boy would run back inside the home and told him to stay with her while she called 911, Hohler told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard Wednesday morning.

The boy, Rashean White, 7, his older sister, Nezamiyah White, 8, and their grandfather, Anthony Wild, 76, were in the home when the fire started, Onondaga County deputies say.

Nezamiyah was found in an upstairs bedroom and pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release Wednesday from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.

Wild and Rashean were taken to Upstate University Hospital, where Rashean was treated for burns on his hands, according Sgt. Jon Seeber, a spokesman for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office. Wild was in critical condition and later placed on life support, Seeber said.

Related Article: Second person dies in fatal Clay house fire, family says

Hohler lives next door to the home at 124 Lawdon St. that caught fire Tuesday night.

A cat, three dogs and nine puppies were also inside the home when the house caught fire, Hohler said. The mother of the children, who was at work, also lives in the home, she said.

Hohler said she first connected with her neighbors when one of their dogs was accidentally locked out of the home. Hohler volunteers with the Humane Association Of Central New York and offered advice to the household’s mother about dogs.

“They barked a lot and one was locked out of the home once,” Hohler said. “But she loves her dogs and she was very kind and wrote me a letter apologizing and told me she would do better with the dogs, and she did.”

On Tuesday night, Lawdon Street filled with first responders and people who lived in the neighborhood, Holher said.

Heavy fire could be seen through the front door and front windows of the home, said Pat Brennan, the chief for the North Syracuse Fire Department.

Fire investigators are still working to determine the cause and origin of the fire, Brennan said Wednesday afternoon.

Five other departments responded: Moyers Corners, Hinsdale, Mattydale, Cicero and Clay, Brennan said. Maybach Ambulance and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department were also on scene, he said.

Fran Stagnitta, 77, who lives across the street, said she heard loud noises and assumed it came from the neighbor to her left. But when she looked outside, she instead saw the home on fire

“I opened my window and the house was just in flames,” Stagnitta said. “Flames and smoke were coming out of the window, and I saw a little boy standing outside with Nancy.”

Hohler said she stood with Rashean while emergency crew members arrived on scene. He stood with her, in a coat and boots provided by other neighbors, until his mother arrived, she said.

Hohler added that she’d received a text from Rashean’s mother at about 7:35 p.m. asking if she was home. Hohler said she didn’t see the text message until later that night.

The family was new to the neighborhood, moving in a few months ago, Hohler said. The mother works two jobs to provide for her kids, she said.

Wednesday morning, Hohler set a bright pink stuffed lion under a tree in the front yard of Rashean and Nezamiyah’s home. It sat alongside a bouquet of flowers and under several rosaries hanging from tree limbs, the start to a memorial for Nezamiyah.

“I have two daughters, I couldn’t imagine,” Hohler said. “It’s just a terrible tragedy.”

Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at dstevenson@syracuse.com

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