WAKEFIELD, Mass. (AP) – The community rallied Thursday behind the family of a teenager who was killed a day earlier when his family’s home was destroyed in a fire.

Wakefield High School classmates of 16-year-old Peter Sokol brought clothes to school for his family, and the Wakefield Item newspaper started a memorial fund in Sokol’s name.

The teen’s body was found in the living room after the fire was knocked down on Wednesday, fire Capt. David Myette said. Sokol was alone in the single-story house on Old Nahant Road at the time, he said.

When firefighters responded around 4 p.m. Wednesday, smoke and flames were coming out the house, Myette said. The cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Contributions to the Peter Sokol Memorial Fund can be made to The Savings Bank, P.O Box 30, Wakefield, Mass., 01880.

AP-ES-12-18-03 1242EST