California wildfire: Father at son’s bedside among victims

An amputee and his son with cerebral palsy were among the 11 deaths in the fires raging around Los Angeles. The father was found at his son’s bedside.

One victim told a relative that he did not want to evacuate. He died trying to fight the blaze that consumed his home of more than 50 years.

Another victim, an 85-year-old woman, refused to leave her home as the fast-moving Palisades Fire approached, preferring instead to stay behind with her beloved pets.

Five of the 11 deaths appear related to the Palisades Fire near the Southern California coast, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. Another six deaths have been attributed to the Eaton Fire, which raged east of Los Angeles.

The complete death toll won’t be clear until it’s safe for investigators to enter neighborhoods where there are downed power lines, gas leaks and other hazards, according to authorities.

Here’s what we know about the victims:

Annette Rossilli

Annette Rossilli, 85, insisted on staying in her Pacific Palisades home with her dog Greetly, her canary Pepper, her two parrots and her turtle, according to Luxe Homecare, the company that provided in-home care for her three days a week.

The Palisades Fire, the largest of several blazes, started Tuesday morning. Rossilli was encouraged to leave on Tuesday afternoon.

A caregiver later offered to pick Rossilli up even though it was her day off, Fay Vahdani, Luxe Homecare president, said Friday. Neighbors tried to convince her to evacuate but Rossilli refused to leave.

On Wednesday, firefighters found Rossilli’s body in her car, according to Vahdani and relatives of the victim.

Rossilli is survived by a daughter and a son. She ran a plumbing business in Pacific Palisades for many years with her late husband. She continued to live in the same home after his passing.

She was a kind, friendly and grateful person who had many friends in the community and will be deeply missed, according to Luxe Homecare.

Anthony and Justin Mitchell

Anthony Mitchell, an amputee who used a wheelchair, last spoke to his daughter, Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, on Wednesday morning, she told the Washington Post.

He told his daughter he planned to evacuate his home in Altadena, a neighborhood north of Pasadena, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Mitchell and his adult son Justin, who had cerebral palsy, lived together, White told the newspaper.

They never evacuated: White said authorities told her Mitchell’s body was found by the bed of his son.

“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” White told the Post. “It’s very hard. It’s like a ton of bricks just fell on me.”

Erliene Kelley

Erliene Kelley chose not to evacuate on Tuesday night with her granddaughter and her family. She wanted to stay in the Altadena home where she’d lived for more than 40 years.

“It’s in God’s hands,” Kelley told family members, according to her granddaughter, Briana Navarro.

Navarro wrote in a GoFundMe post that the family was notified on Friday that Kelley had perished in the Eaton fire.

“We made the choice to evacuate on Tuesday night, however my grandmother decided she wanted to stay,” wrote Navarro. She later asked her father to check on Kelley, who again refused to evacuate.

Navarro’s father returned to the house on Wednesday and found it had been destroyed in the fire.

Navarro, her husband and their two children lived with Kelley. They lost everything in the fire, according to the post.

Victor Shaw

Victor Shaw, 66, decided to try to fight the raging Eaton blaze with a garden hose this week rather than evacuate his longtime family home, according to KTLA.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has confirmed his death, noting that died at his home from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.

Shaw lived with his younger sister, Shari Shaw, who told KTLA the intensity of the approaching fire forced her to evacuate Tuesday night but that her brother insisted on staying.

Rodney Nickerson

In one of his final phone calls, as the Eaton Fire approached his Altadena home, Rodney Nickerson said, “Son, the winds are picking up really, really bad.”

The son, Eric Nickerson, remembers every word of that last conversation with his father. They were extremely close and spoke every day.

“It was a normal conversation. Like most mornings,” Eric Nickerson told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday.

The younger Nickerson recalled not being able to reach his father later that Tuesday, nor the following morning.

After other family members and friends learned of Rodney’s death, they struggled to break the news to his son.

“They didn’t know what to tell me,” Eric Nickerson said. “They didn’t really know what words to tell me because of the situation.”

The close-knit, working class neighborhood where Rodney Nickerson lived for more than 50 years – and where his son grew up – has been virtually destroyed by fire.

“It’s devastated,” Eric Nickerson lamented. “It looks like a movie set.”

This is a developing story and will be updated