A man battling to save his family home of 55 years, a great-grandfather of 10 and his adult son with cerebral palsy, an 83-year-old grandfather found in his bed, and a retired pharmacy technician are among the at least 10 people killed by the devastating fires still tearing through Los Angeles.
Five fires have burned more than 10,000 structures across the City of Angels and are still raging out of control — with the two largest, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, at 6% and 0% containment, respectively.
At least five people were killed by the Eaton Fire and two by the Palisades — and officials have warned that the death toll will likely grow.
“At some point, we’ll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas — some of them look like a bomb was dropped on them — where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us [and] hopefully not discover too many fatalities,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday.
By 9 p.m. Thursday, the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced that its office had received notice of 10 fire-related deaths.
Several of the victims lived just blocks away from one another in Altadena, a neighborhood near Pasadena home to many working- and middle-class families, including black homeowners who have been in the community for decades.
The Eaton Fire devoured the community, parts of which have become more affluent in recent years.
Victor Shaw
The body of Victor Shaw, the first victim of the fires to be identified, was discovered badly burned and still holding a garden house outside his family home of 55 years on Wednesday morning.
Shaw, 66, had refused to evacuate and instead stayed behind to try to save the home he shared with his sister on Monterose Avenue, KTLA reported.
His younger sister, Shari Shaw, was with her brother as the flames crept onto their home Tuesday night and described in agony how she lost sight of him as she fled for her life.
“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 that I had to save myself,” Shari told KTLA.
“And I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames, and I had to leave.”
She said he wanted to stay behind to try to battle the blaze, even though he suffered health issues that limited his mobility.
A family friend found Victor’s charred remains on the side of the road the next morning with the garden house in his hands.
Shari said she “fell to the ground” when she learned the horrible news — and couldn’t bring herself to look at her dead brother.
“They just told me that he was lying on the ground and that he looked serene, as if he was at peace,” she said.
Anthony and Justin Mitchell
Retired salesman Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his bedridden son Justin, who was in his 20s, died when the Eaton Fire hit Altadena on Wednesday, his daughter Hajime White told the Washington Post.
Anthony was a great-grandfather of 10 who used a wheelchair to get around and lived with Justin, who had cerebral palsy.
Anthony had called White, who lives in Arkansas, Wednesday morning to let her know they were evacuating their home.
“He said, ‘Baby, I’m just letting you know the fire’s broken out, and we’re going to have to evacuate,’” she recalled.
“Then he said, ‘I’ve gotta go — the fire’s in the yard.’”
A few hours later, she learned her father and brother were killed when the blaze tore through the region.
“It’s like a ton of bricks just fell on me,” she told WaPo.
Anthony — a big-hearted man who “had nicknames for everybody” — had four children, 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, White said.
Her half-brother Justin used a computer to communicate and read, she added.
“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” White said of her father.
Rodney Nickerson
Family members found 83-year-old Rodney Nickerson dead in his bed Thursday amid the rubble of the Altadena home he purchased in 1968 for $5 after the beloved grandfather refused to evacuate, his daughter told CBS News.
“We found his bones, his whole body was there, intact,” Kimiko Nickerson said outside the ruins of the only place she called home.
“This is the house that I came home to as a child and I’ve been here my whole life and I don’t know anywhere else other than here — myself and my brother and my son Chase and his other grandchildren,” she added. “This is where we’ve been our whole life.”
Rodney refused to leave his home of decades despite Kimiko’s and her 25-year-old son’s desperate pleas.
“My son tried to get him to leave and my neighbors and myself and he said he’ll be fine. ‘I’ll be here when you guys come back’ and he said his house would be here,” the grieving daughter said. “His house is here and he was here too.”
Rodney was a retired project engineer for Lockheed Martin, where he worked for 45 years alongside his late wife, Kimiko said.
The Nickerson family has strong roots in the community.
Rodney’s grandfather and Kimiko’s great-grandfather William Nickerson was the founder of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, and Los Angeles’ largest public housing development, Nickerson Gardens in Watts, is named after him.
Erliene Kelley
Erliene Kelly, a retired pharmacy technician, similarly died in the Altadena home she lived in for years, according to family members and neighbors, the New York Times reported.
Kelly had worked at Rite Aid and was beloved by her longtime neighbors, who described her as “so, so, so sweet.”
“She was an angel,” neighbor Terry Pyburn told the newspaper. “That’s the perfect neighbor. When you see her, you have a smile.”
Pyburn and Kelly would often make small talk about neighborly things like gardening and the local news, he added.
Pyburn said many people in the neighborhood rushed to evacuate at the last minute due to what he said was poor communication from officials. He and his wife initially believed that they were not in the evacuation zone — until they started smelling smoke.
“It was panic. Everyone took off and no one thought to check on anybody,” Pyburn told the Times. “I think the notice came too late.”
