Donations of food, clothing and toys for the survivors of a fatal weekend fire in Happy Valley Goose Bay overflowed in Labrador Wednesday, just days after the incident.

Four people were rescued from the burning home Sunday morning. Five others died in the fire, including Paulette Jaque, 33 and her daughter, Charlotte Robinson, 5.

Police said the others who died were Kathleen Jararuse, 17, from Makkovik, where many people knew her as Kathleen Mitchell; Matthew Gear Allen, 13; and a female, 24, whose name was being withheld at the request of family.

Crystal Sheppard, a Jaque family acquaintance, collected donations of food, clothing and toys, for the survivors of the fire and for family of those who perished. Jaque left behind two other children.

"When I woke up on Monday morning, I just started thinking about the children who had woke up the same morning without anything they ever owned, including the best thing they ever had, their mom," Sheppard said. "Plus, all the material things they had lost, and I just thought I had to do something to help them."

Sheppard said people from as far away as Europe are offering to help the survivors and families affected by the fatal fire.

"The response has been overwhelming," Sheppard said. "I can't believe how many people have volunteered to drop food off, who've dropped clothes off."

Memorials created throughout town

Memorials for the dead have been set up throughout Happy Valley-Goose Bay, including tributes of flowers and candles at the site of the townhouse fire.

At Queen of Peace Middle School, the desk and running shoes of deceased child, Matthew Gear Allen, sit in the hallway underneath a bulletin board decorated in his honour.

His classmates have posted their written memories of Allen, and messages to him, above his desk.

Funeral arrangements for the deceased had not been finalized by late Tuesday.

The house fire was ruled an accident by investigators on Monday. Smoking material, possibly a cigarette, ignited the blaze, police said in a news release. Earlier, they said that alcohol may have been a factor.

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