While one person remained with his son who had cerebral palsy and was unable to leave, at least two of the victims died in the Southern California wildfire attempted to defend the homes where they had spent decades raising families.
In the Los Angeles area, deadly flames driven by dry weather and strong windserupted Tuesday, resulting in the known deaths of twenty-four persons. Approximately 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and thousands of buildings have been destroyed. According to officials, the actual number of fatalities is unknown because communities are still being destroyed by the fires.
What we currently know about the victims is as follows:
Anthony and Justin Mitchell
According to Anthony Mitchell, his father was a “protector” who would stop at nothing to keep his family safe. His father passed away at his Altadena home at the age of 67. He was a great-grandfather of ten and had the same name as his son. Justin Mitchell, Anthony’s younger brother, also passed away.
Anthony claimed that his father refused to leave Justin, who had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk, and that he used a wheelchair following the amputation of a limb last year.
He told NBC News on Friday that although he possibly could have gotten himself out, he wasn’t going to abandon my brother. He had a deep affection for his children.
According to Anthony, he last spoke to his father on Wednesday at around five in the morning. About half an hour after his father’s statement that they were waiting to be evacuated, he called another relative to report that he could see the fire across the street.
Anthony stated that everyone is simply upset about what transpired.
According to Anthony, his father was a leader who loved his family. He was always willing to assist out and gave each of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren a nickname.
Anthony remarked, “My dad loved his family.” After we had a lengthy talk, he said: I want you to know that my children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews are all part of my legacy. My treasure is all of you. He declared, “My children and my family are my treasures; money and property don’t matter.”
Both watching TV and having someone read to him were enjoyable to Justin.
Anthony remarked, “He was just a really sweet kid.”
Erliene Louise Kelley
Erliene Louise Kelley was a “sweet” but “stern” grandma who knew almost everyone in their neighborhood, according to 33-year-old Briana Navarro.
“You get stopped maybe four or five times if I’m out with her. She was well-known to all. “Her generation, my parents’ generation, and even all of my high school friends are saying, ‘She was so sweet,'” Navarro said on Thursday in an interview with NBC News.
Navarro claimed that when she peered out a window and noticed smoke, she was at the family’s Altadena house, where she resided with her husband, two daughters, and grandmother.
She remembered, “You could just see a red glow as we walked outside.” “It didn t look like anything major.”
Although Navarro’s husband wanted to depart, the family wasn’t in a hurry to do so.
“My husband, he’s not from out here, so he kind of was looking at it a little different than we were,” Navarro explained. She said, ‘No, no, I’m alright,’ when we asked [her grandma]. You guys can proceed.
According to her granddaughter, Kelley, 83, who had previously seen a significant wildfire, thought everything would be alright. On Thursday evening, police informed Navarro that Kelley had perished when the house caught fire.
According to Navarro, she believes her grandma was “at peace” at the house she “tended to every day” for over 40 years. The loss is causing the family to struggle.
“My granny was quite busy. I assumed she would be strolling around at 99. “What hurts the most is that we didn’t anticipate losing her in such a tragic way,” she said.
Victor Shaw
According to his family, Victor Shaw, 66, was killed Tuesday night in the Eaton Fire while attempting to defend his house, which had been in the family for more than 50 years.
Shari Shaw, his sister, told KTLA-TV that they shared the house and that she attempted to persuade him to leave as the fire began to spread across the property.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm,” she recalled. “I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames and I had to leave.”
When NBC News reached out to Shari Shaw, she declined to be interviewed, stating that she needed to concentrate on planning her brother’s burial.
Family friend Al Tanner told KTLA that Victor’s body was on the side of the road with a garden hose in his hand when they returned to the house on Wednesday morning.
“It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had had for almost 55 years,” Tanner stated.
Rodney Kent Nickerson
As his family and neighbors attempted to persuade him to leave his Altadena home, Rodney Kent Nickerson, 83, convinced loved ones that he would be alright, according to his daughter Kimiko Nickerson, who spoke to KCAL-TV.
“When my son, my neighbors, and I tried to get him to leave, he said he would be alright and that ‘I’ll be here when you guys come back.'” She said, “And he promised that his house would be here.”
Around 7 p.m., Nickerson was outside attempting to spray down his property. “Tuesday,” his daughter said. Around 9:30 p.m., she last spoke with him on FaceTime.
“He was here, and his house is here. When I found him, he was in his bed. She informed the station that his entire body was present undamaged.
Kimiko was not readily reachable at the numbers provided.
Nickerson, a project engineer manager for 45 years at the aerospace and defense firm Lockheed Martin, has resided in the house since 1968. The station was informed by Kimiko that “I don’t know anywhere else other than here.”
The statement, “I’ve been here my whole life,” was made. “Myself and my brother and my son and his other grandchildren, this is where we’ve been our whole life.”
Rory Sykes
Born blind and suffering from cerebral palsy, former Australian child star Rory Sykes passed away on Wednesday after his mother said she was unable to save him from his burning cottage.
Sykes, 32, who appeared in the British television series Kiddy Kapers in the late 1990s, was residing in a cottage on his family’s 17-acre Malibu home when it caught fire on Wednesday.
When Shelley Sykes was unable to use a hose to extinguish the cinders on his roof due to a shortage of water, she claimed it burned down in the Palisades Fire.
She stated to Australian news station 10 News First that she was unable to lift or transfer her son due to a fractured arm.
“Leave me, Mom,” he said. “And no mother could abandon their child,” she sobbed.
Shelley Sykes claimed that when she drove to the nearby fire department to seek assistance, they informed her that they were out of water. She claimed that Rory’s cottage was completely destroyed by fire when the fire department returned.
I must inform with deep sorrow that my lovely son @Rorysykes lost his life in yesterday’s Malibu flames. She wrote on Thursday about X, describing him as a beautiful son, and I’m completely devastated.
Randall Lawrence Miod
Randy Craw According to his mother, Daddy Miod, a well-known Malibu personality, passed away in the Palisades Fire at his house, which he affectionately called the Crab Shack.
Detectives stated he was probably attempting to save his home when he died from the heat and smoke, according to his mother, Carol Smith. In a written statement, she claimed that Miod passed away in the location he loved the most.
Smith claimed that Tuesday, the day the flames began, was the last time she had spoken to him. He told her he could see the smoke and sounded like he was on the verge of tears.” Though she pleaded with him to grab his cat and evacuate to a shelter, she said, he refused.
He said, No, Mom, I don t trust the fire department, and I have a hose, Smith said. His last words to me that day were Pray for the Palisades and pray for Malibu. I love you.
She added that he had been through so many fires in the 30 years he resided there and that he most likely did not believe this fire would be much different. But it was.
He will be remembered for his kindness, his loving spirit, his generosity, his laughter, the encouragement he gave others, for working hard and playing hard, Smith said. I don t think he ever realized how much everyone loved and respected him, for just being Randy, the Craw.
Dalyce Curry
Dalyce “Mama Dee” Curry, 95, was killed in the Eaton Fire, her granddaughter said.
Curry s granddaughter, Dalyce Kelley, was the last person to see her alive and dropped her off at her home the day the wildfire ignited,Kelley told NBC News’ Tom Llamas.When evacuation orders were issued the next day, Curry was not able to make it out, Kelley said.
She said it was possible her grandmother didn’t receive emergency alerts and was unaware of evacuation recommendations and alerts.
“Elderly people, they just don’t get into cellphones,” Kelley said. “Not her.”
Curry was part of old Black Hollywood in the 1950s and appeared as an extra in classic movies like the Ten Commandments and The Blues Brothers,” her granddaughter said.
Kelley said her grandmother was mentored by Madame Sul-Te-Wan, whose real name was Nellie Crawford, said to be the first Black woman under a movie studio contract in the silent film era, according to theGolden Globes.
Kelley said her grandmother loved her Altadena community, and the destruction the wildfire caused would have hurt her deeply.
She loved Altadena,” she said. “She loved that city. She loved that little cottage.”
Arthur Simoneau
Arthur Simoneau, 69, was a hang-glider pilot for four decades, friends and family toldthe Los Angeles Times.
Simoneau, who died in the Palisades Fire, was returning from a ski trip when he learned of the evacuation orders for his Topanga home in the Santa Monica Mountains, Steve Murillo, a longtime friend and fellow hang-glider pilot, told the news outlet.
He was heading home to save it if he could, Murillo said. Arthur was the kind of guy that once he put his mind to something, you couldn t really talk him out of stuff.
Simoneau was found near the doorway of his home, apparently trying to defend it, Murillo said, according to the newspaper.
His neighbor, Susan Dumond, told the paper that everyone in the area knew Simoneau as a neighborhood caretaker. He greeted all his neighbors with a grin and a peace sign and was known to leave a trail of freshly yanked invasive species behind him wherever he went, Dumond said.
That s his nature is to protect the community, protect his house. I would imagine that s what he did, she said. He cared about the community a lot, and would do anything to try to help it.
Charles Mortimer
Charles Mortimer, 84, was killed in the Palisades Fire. His death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.