Oaklee Bagley, 9, who died after fire remembered as 'happy and bright'

More than 100 people have donated money to the family of a nine-year-old Port Hawkesbury boy who died after a house fire over the weekend.

Grade 4 student Oaklee Bagley was airlifted to hospital after what the fire marshal's office is calling an "accidental fire" in the family's kitchen.

Amanda Bagley, the boy's mother, remains in hospital in critical condition.

An online fundraiser has raised more than $5,000 for the family.

A steady stream of people placed flowers and stuffed animals in front of the fire-damaged house on Monday.

Friends say Oaklee was polite, loved baseball and judo and would often sit with his neighbours on Bourinot Drive to chat.

"He was just really happy and bright in the morning. No matter what he was always happy," said 13-year-old Maddie Snow. 

"I just wanted to put a teddy bear [outside the house] because he was always so happy. Whenever I would go on the bus, he would always be talking to his friends and it's really sad that he had to pass away."

Sadie Bissonnette is a neighbour.

"I feel bad, I'm going to miss him terrible — and I loved his mother too, we were friends," she said.

School board psychologists are helping the children cope. The local school was open as a grief centre on Monday.

Curtis Doucet, the chief of the Port Hawkesbury Volunteer Fire Department, said the kitchen and some of the upstairs was damaged, but the home is still standing.

An autopsy is scheduled for this week.

The fire is still under investigation.