CINCINNATI — The Higdon-Smith family home was left as a shell Thursday afternoon as fire tore through the second and third floors killing 17-year-old Mason Stottelmire.
Mason's uncle Paul Higdon-Smith said when the fire started he was on the first floor caring for Mason's brother, Maddox.
"Every time I close my eyes, I remember," Higdon-Smith said through tears as he looked back at Thursday's terrible events from a hotel room.
Higdon-Smith said his first thought when he smelled burnt rubber was to check the furnace in the basement, but his husband Tony began yelling about black smoke on the upper floors.
He said his first thought as officers who'd noticed smoke while on patrol began knocking on the home's windows and doors was getting the injured Maddox to safety.
"I'm screaming for him, and I've got to get Maddox into a wheelchair. People are beating on the windows. There's a policeman right there at the back door to help get him down the steps out of the way. I couldn't get Mason," he said. "I couldn't get up there in time. He was gone."
Higdon-Smith said Mason was bright and complex.
He said the 17-year-old loved learning to cook, but would only eat the things he liked. Higdon-Smith said he hated pickles.
The teen knew everything there was to know about Star Wars and was an enthusiastic Lego builder.
The loss, Higdon-Smith said, is even more painful just before the holidays.
"Right now it's day-to-day," Higdon-Smith said. "There's no Christmas, there's no trees, there's no everything within the house."
Soon, the family will begin to rebuild.
A family friend created a GoFundMe for the family for essentials like clothing, toiletries, burial expenses and more.
Higdon-Smith said he had homeowner's insurance for the property, but the family will need assistance with funeral expenses.
"You never dreamed of insurance on a 17-year-old," Higdon-Smith said. "He's going to live forever, and now we have to bury him."
CFD said the fire started on the second floor of the home and it took about 30 minutes to control it. Crews remained on scene to complete the extinguishment and assist in an investigation into the cause.
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