Local News

Dorchester boy, 8, honored for saving family, neighbors from house fire

“Hasani is the hero.”

By Madeleine Aitken

December 20, 2022

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 1

Hasani Little, an 8-year-old Dorchester boy, is being honored by his school and his community for helping his family and neighbors out of a fire that burned their three-family home in the middle of the night earlier this month.

Hasani’s mother, Geneva Davis, commended her son, saying “Hasani is the hero,” on a GoFundMe page set up to support the family.

The fire was the result of a candle that suddenly exploded, The Boston Globe reported, in the home at 92 Lucerne St.

According to the GoFundMe, Hasani woke up his three younger siblings — 6, 5, and 3 — and escorted them out of the building. Then he ran back in to alert the tenants of the other two apartments, including one with young children and a newborn.

Though everyone got out safely, the damage is irreparable, and includes 20 years of Davis’s original artwork, art supplies, and collected art from other artists.

“The children have lost all of their clothes, shoes, electronics, toys, and books. Everything in that house if it didn’t burn to ash is warped and toxic, due to the chemicals released,” said Davis on the GoFundMe. “Nothing was salvageable.” 

Hasani was honored Monday morning at P. A. Shaw Elementary School, where he and his younger brother Hendrix are students. Boston firefighters presented him with a certificate honoring his heroism, and through Boston Firefighters Local 718 Children’s Fund, Davis received a check for $1,000, according to the Globe.

Davis, on the GoFundMe page, criticized her landlord for not having the building up to fire code; there were no water sprinklers or fire extinguishers in the building, which houses 3 women and 14 children, she said.

The family has been staying in a hotel since the incident, and Davis pleaded for help from anyone who can give it.

“What a long road ahead of us,” she wrote. “We are loving happy caring active members of the Boston community. The children are so loved by their teachers and peers…We’re reaching out to the community asking that you lend your hearts and hands.”