Tragedy struck an Arizona family last week when a condo fire claimed the lives of a father and four children.
Phoenix Fire Department officials said that 52-year-old Shimone Boyer was at home with the children when a fire broke out at the family’s home on Wednesday night, according to ABC News.
Phoenix fire crews who arrived at the townhome found flames coming from the windows, per CBS affiliate KPHO. The firefighters eventually found each of the victims inside their bedrooms.
Boyer was pronounced dead at the scene, while two of his children, identified as 7-year-old Dov Boyer and 8-year-old Nachman Boyer, died at the hospital, reported ABC News.
The other two children, 11-year-old Tamar Boyer, and 9-year-old Shevach Boyer, succumbed to their injuries in the hospital on Saturday, according to NBC affiliate KPNX.
Steven Boyer created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for the funerals of his brother and his four nephews and nieces.
Steven, who wrote on the page that he “lived with the family for nearly seven years to help raise these four beautiful special needs children,” said he was out of town “when this tragedy occurred.”
He added: “We need to raise money for funeral costs to lay my brother and his four children to rest properly and to help rebuild my life after this devastating loss. Any and all assistance is very much appreciated as this experience is both shocking and overwhelming for me.”
PEOPLE reached out to Steven for comment. The campaign has raised over $100,000 as of Monday afternoon.
According to KPHO, it is believed that the fire started while everyone was sleeping, and there were no working fire alarms inside the townhouse.
The outlet said a police investigation into the cause of the fire is still active, but there are no obvious signs that it was intentionally set. A badly burned washer and dryer were pulled out of the home, officials said.
“He (Shimon) put everything he could into those kids, everything he could do, every waking moment was focused on his kids,” Steven told NBC affiliate KPNX.
“There are no words,” he continued, “there are no words.”
