Community gathers to honor Orlando girl who died in house fire

ORLANDO, Fla. — Dozens gathered Monday evening in Orlando's Carver Shores neighborhood to honor an 8-year-old girl who died Sunday morning in a house fire.

Community members congregated near the charred home to pay tribute to Siyah Johnson. Firefighters said the home didn't have a working smoke detector.

"Siyah was a lovely little girl," said Raven Robinson, the girl's aunt. "Anybody that met her -- she just brightened their day."

"I looked, and I saw smoke," he said. "I just heard a scream. It was like one of those 'anybody help me, please' screams."

Pollock said he didn't know who was screaming, but he tried to rescue the girl.

"I reached to grab her, and everything just kind of collapsed, and our hands just separated," he said. "I was hoping that it wasn't too late ... I tried, and I wasn't going to stop trying."

The city of Orlando said there were no complaints about a lack of smoke detectors at the home.

Firefighters spent part of Monday handing out and installing complimentary smoke detectors in the neighborhood.

It's unknown what caused the fire.

A boy and Siyah's grandmother escaped the burning home. The woman is being treated for severe burns.

Cox Media Group