The mother of a 4-year-old boy killed in a house fire this week says he was fun-loving and well-liked by all his friends and relatives.

Now, all of them are grieving his loss, even as they try to find a new place to live, struggle to deal with insurance questions and figure out how to rebuild their lives, said Adnes Ceasar, whose son John Rex died in their Salt Lake home on Wednesday.

John Rex, who would have turned 5 next month, was an active child, always eager to play with others, Ceasar said.

"He was a joker, very outgoing, always screaming and playing," she said last night in an 'Aiea hotel room where the extended family of more than two dozen people is staying while others in the community try to find a new home for them.

A hint of John Rex's impish smile dominates the only photo the family has left of him. The photo was taken by a cousin just a week before the fire broke out.

"Everything else we lost in the fire," Ceasar said.

Last night, the Red Cross agreed to provide emergency shelter care for the family for three more days as friends, social workers and others sought a place to keep the family whole.

"The most important thing is keeping the entire family together," said family spokesman Kangichy Welle. "Making them split up would be worse than the fire itself."

As the family stayed inside six rooms in the hotel, friends and well-wishers continued to drop off supplies outside. Food, water, clothes and toys were piled up on a doorstep alongside shoes and slippers. Inside, Ceasar tried to tell visitors about her son.

He would have been 5 on Dec. 18, she said. Although slow to talk, he loved taking pictures of others on their cell phones. "He wasn't a troublemaker at all; he was just very active and could never stay in one place for long," she said.

Fire investigators believe that a child playing with a cigarette lighter started the blaze in a back bedroom of the home. John Rex was found in another bedroom, they said.

Beyond finding a new place to stay, the most pressing problem the family faces is trying to document that they had fire insurance on the home, Welle said. Because all the family records were burned in the fire, the family couldn't even contact the insurance company. Welle said he and others spent much of the day yesterday getting bounced between a mortgage company and an escrow firm as they tried to identify and contact the family's insurance company.

As of last night, they had not succeeded.

"It's an important thing we need to do. Without that information we won't be able to pay the mortgage on the home and could lose everything," he said. "If anybody knows how to deal with that, we'd appreciate the help."

Ceasar, who is separated from her husband, worked full-time as a waitress and held another part-time job. She and other members of the family living in the home all contributed to paying the $4,700-a-month mortgage on the five-bedroom home.

Welle said nurses and social workers from the Kalihi Palama Health Center had examined other children who escaped the fire and were trying to help the family deal with its ordeal.

"We're just crossing our fingers and hoping that somebody can offer a place for the family to stay," he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.