ROANOKE, Va – Fire departments across the country, including several in Southwest Virginia, took time to honor a 4-year-old who died in a house fire this week.
"#JRaughOnDuty" went viral after family members shared James Raugh's story. The boy, his younger siblings and their dad died in a mobile home fire in South Carolina Monday.
Family members said James wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up, and asked fire departments to take him "on duty" to help make that dream come true.
Fire departments in Forest, Lynchburg, the city of Roanoke and Galax all took steps to honor James through online tributes.
"Whether he's 4 years old or 84 years old, the respect is there when you're involved with the fire service," said Brady White with the Galax Fire Department.
"Our hearts just go out to this family," said Tiffany Bradbury, community risk reduction specialist with Roanoke Fire-EMS. "We just want them to know that we here in Roanoke have adopted him into our family, too, and we hope that we can make him proud."
People gathered on Friday in South Carolina for the family's funeral service.
The cause of the fire has been listed as undetermined.