Authorities: Child playing with lighter caused fatal Kenly fire

Firefighters responded to 1592 Beulahtown Road in Kenly and found David William Creech, 37, and his 2-year-old son, Matthew, dead inside the home.

Creech's girlfriend, Serena Brock, 36, and his other two sons, Johnny, 10, and Bryson, 3, were taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where they were listed in serious but stable condition.

Shannon Blankumsee, who lives next door, said Johnny Creech ran from the burning home, pleading with her for help, so she called 911.

"Where’s your daddy at, baby?" Blankumsee asks the boy during the eight-minute 911 call before telling the dispatcher, "They are in the bedroom."

Brock tried to get Creech and Matthew out, but the house was so full of smoke that she couldn't see inside or breathe, Blankumsee told the dispatcher.

"She is on the side, beating that window where they are at," she told the dispatcher.

Blankumsee said that the fire was out by the time she was alerted to it, and all she saw was smoke coming from the home.

"We are still trying to cope with things the best we can. We are still trying to figure out what happened," Creech's sister-in-law, Brandy Creech, said Monday.

Investigators determined the fire started on a toddler bed in the home when one of the children was playing with a lighter. They haven't said which of the children was responsible.

Brandy Creech called Matthew "a little sweetheart" and said her brother-in-law was a dedicated father.

"He was a good person. He always worked hard, and he loved his kids," she said.

As the family deals with its grief, she said, she also has to answer questions from her own children about what happened to their cousins.

"They are old enough to understand something bad has happened, and trying to explain to them that one of their little cousins passed and the other two are in the hospital is not very easy," she said.