At least two of the people who died in the Southern California wildfires tried to protect the homes where they raised their families and lived for decades, while another stayed with her son who had cerebral palsy and couldn’t evacuate.
Eleven people are now known to have died in the Los Angeles area after destructive wildfires fueled by dry conditions and strong winds broke out on Tuesday. Thousands of structures have been destroyed and approximately 180,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. Authorities have said the actual death toll is unknown as fires continue to destroy neighborhoods.
Here’s what we know so far about the victims:
Antonio and Justin Mitchell
Anthony Mitchell remembered his father as a “protector” who would do anything for his family. The 67-year-old great-grandfather of 10, who shared the same name as his son, died at his home in Altadena. Anthony’s younger brother, Justin Mitchell, also died.
Anthony said his father used a wheelchair after his leg was amputated last year and refused to leave Justin, who had cerebral palsy and couldn’t walk.
“I probably could have gone out on my own, but I wasn’t going to leave my brother,” he told NBC News on Friday. “He really loved his children.”
Anthony said he last spoke to his father around 5 a.m. Wednesday. Their father said they were waiting to be evacuated, but about 30 minutes later, he called another family member and told him he could see the fire across the street from the house.
“Everyone is shocked by what happened,” he said.
Anthony described his father as a leader who appreciated his family. He gave each of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren nicknames and was always willing to lend a hand.
“My dad loved his family,” Anthony said. “He and I had a long conversation and he said, ‘I want you to know that my children and my grandchildren, my nieces and nephews, you are my entire legacy. You are my treasure.’ He said, ‘Money doesn’t matter, property doesn’t matter, my children and my family are my treasure.'”
Justin liked watching television and having people read to him.
“He was a really sweet kid,” Anthony said.
Erliene Louise Kelley
Briana Navarro, 33, remembered her grandmother, Erliene Louise Kelley, as a “sweet” but “stern” woman who knew almost everyone in her neighborhood.
“If I go out with her, you get stopped like four or five times. Everyone knew her. Her generation, my parents’ generation, even all my friends in high school, they all said, ‘She was so sweet,'” Navarro told NBC News on Thursday.
Navarro said she was at the family’s home in Altadena, where she lived with her husband, two daughters and grandmother, when she looked out a window and saw smoke.
“When we came out, you could see a red glow,” he recalled. “It didn’t seem like anything important.”
The family was in no hurry to leave, but Navarro’s husband wanted to evacuate.
“My husband is not from here, so he saw it a little differently than we did,” Navarro said. “We asked (my grandmother)… and she said, ‘No, no, I’m fine. Keep going.'”
Kelley, 83, who had been through a large wildfire in the past, assumed everything would be fine, her granddaughter said. Police confirmed to Navarro Thursday night that Kelley died when the fire engulfed the home.
Navarro said she believes her grandmother was “at peace” staying in the home she “tended to every day” for more than four decades. The family is now dealing with the loss.
“My grandmother was very active… I thought she would be 99 years old and just walking around. We didn’t expect to lose her so tragically and that’s what hurts the most,” he said.
Victor Shaw
Victor Shaw, 66, was trying to protect his home that had been in the family for more than five decades when he died Tuesday night in the Eaton fire, his family said.
His sister, Shari Shaw, told KTLA they lived in the home together, and when flames began to engulf the property, she tried to get him to leave.
“When I went back in and called out his name, he didn’t respond and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying around like a firestorm,” she said. “I looked back and the house was starting to go up in flames and I had to leave.”
Shari Shaw declined to be interviewed when contacted by NBC News, saying she needed to focus on her brother’s funeral arrangements.
Al Tanner, a family friend, told KTLA that when they returned to the house Wednesday morning they found Victor’s body on the side of a road with a garden hose in his hand.
“It sounds like he was trying to save the house his parents had owned for almost 55 years,” Tanner said.
Rodney Kent Nickerson
Rodney Kent Nickerson, 83, had assured loved ones that he would be fine as his family and neighbors tried to get him to evacuate his Altadena home, his daughter Kimiko Nickerson told KCAL News.
“My son tried to get him to leave, my neighbors and I, and he said everything would be fine, I’ll be here when you guys get back. And he said his house would be here,” she said.
Nickerson was outside trying to hose down his property around 7 p.m. Tuesday, his daughter said. The last time she spoke to him was on FaceTime around 9:30 p.m.
“His house is here and he was here too. He was in his bed when I found him. His whole body was there intact,” she told the station.
Kimiko could not immediately be reached at the phone numbers listed for her.
Nickerson, who worked for aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin for 45 years as a chief project engineer, had lived in the house since 1968. Kimiko told the station, “I don’t know any other place but here.”
“I’ve been here my whole life,” he said. “Me, my brother, my son and his other grandchildren, this is where we’ve been all our lives.”
Rory Sykes
Former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, died in the California bushfires on Wednesday after his mother said she could not save him from his burning cabin.
The actor, 32, who starred in the late 1990s British television show “Kiddy Kapers,” was living in a cabin on his family’s 17-acre Malibu estate that was engulfed in flames on Wednesday.
Shelley Sykes said she was burned in the Palisades fire when she “couldn’t put out the ash on her roof with a hose” due to lack of water.
He told Australian outlet 10 News First that he has a broken arm and couldn’t lift or move his son.
“He said, ‘Mom, let me.’ And no mother could leave her son,” she said, crying.
Shelley Sykes said she drove to the local fire department for help, but was told they had no water. She said that when the fire department brought her back, Rory’s “cabin was burned to the ground.”
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes yesterday in the Malibu fires. “I am totally heartbroken,” she wrote in a post on X on Thursday, calling him “a wonderful son.”
