The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that the remains of multiple people have been found inside homes destroyed by the raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
But homicide detectives, officials said, have not been able to process the scene due to the ongoing dangers surrounding the fires, including spot fires, downed power lines and gas leaks.
Officials have already confirmed five fatalities linked to the Eaton Fire burning in the Pasadena area, but the true scope of the number of lives lost has yet to be fully realized. It remains unclear, albeit likely, if some of the discovered remains were found within the Palisades Fire.
“Information is still very preliminary, but there have been multiple deaths in the fire areas,” an LASD spokesperson told KTLA. “Once homicide investigators can assess the scenes, more information will be provided.”
Among the lives confirmed lost is Rodney Nickerson, an 82-year-old resident of Altadena who died at his home on Alta Pine Drive. His daughter, Kimiko, told KTLA’s Chip Yost that he had experienced his fair share of fires over the decades and felt that he would be OK waiting it out at home.
“He was gathering some things, packing up his car a bit, and he said that he was going to gather up his stuff, but he said he was going to stay here too … he said that he felt this was going to pass over and that he would be here,” she said.
Nickerson said her father bought the home in 1968, putting down $5 for the purchase.
“He came right back with his paperwork from Lockheed Martin, which is where he retired from in Palmdale,” she said. “He’s been there for 45 plus years, and he’s been an Altadenan as long as I’ve been living my whole life. I came here home as a child. I was born at Kaiser Permanente on Sunset, and they brought me here to this house, and I’ve been here my whole life with him.”
Another Eaton Fire victim was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, who died trying to defend his family home of nearly 55 years. Victor lived in the home with his younger sister, who said that she tried to get him to evacuate with her on Tuesday night as the fire moved toward them — but Shaw may have had medical issues that made evacuating difficult.
Three massive fires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area with little to no end in sight. It’s likely that emergency crews will or already have discovered the bodies of those trapped by the Palisades Fire, the most destructive fire in L.A. history.
No deaths have been announced specifically in the path of that fire, although that is expected to change—hundreds of homes have already been destroyed by the blaze.
The Hurst Fire, which has burned over 600 acres in the San Fernando Valley, is currently 10% contained and no deaths have been announced.
