A father at his son’s bedside, a surfer and a woman left behind with beloved pets are among the victims of wildfires

Fires raging around Los Angeles have killed 24 people, including an amputee and his son who had cerebral palsy. The father was found lying next to his son’s bed.

One victim told relatives he did not want to evacuate. He died while fighting the fire that destroyed the home he had lived in for more than 50 years.

Another victim was an 85-year-old woman who refused to leave her home as the fast-moving Palisades Fire approached, preferring to stay with her beloved pets. The dead also included a former child star from Australia and a Malibu resident and surfer who was described as a “people magnet.”

Eight of the 24 deaths appear to be related to the Palisades Fire off the Southern California coast, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner. The Eaton Fire raging east of Los Angeles has killed 16 more people.

Authorities said the full death toll was not known until investigators could safely enter the community, which was home to downed power lines, gas leaks and other hazards.

Here’s what we know about the victims:

Annette Rossili

Annette Rossilli, 85, insists on staying with her dog Greetly, her canary Pepper, two parrots and her tortoise, according to Luxe Homecare, which provides Annette with home care three days a week. lived together at her home in Pacific Palisades.

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

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

Firefighters found Rosili’s body in her car on Wednesday, according to Wahdani and the victim’s relatives.

Rossili is survived by a daughter and a son. She and her late husband ran a plumbing business in Pacific Palisades for many years. After his death, she continued to live in the same home.

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

Anthony and Justin Mitchell

Daughter Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, told The Washington Post that amputee Anthony Mitchell, who uses a wheelchair, last spoke to her Wednesday morning.

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

White told the newspaper that Mitchell lived with his adult son, Justin, who has cerebral palsy.

They never evacuated: White said authorities told her Mitchell’s body was found next to his son’s bed.

“He was not going to leave his son alone. No matter what,” White told The Washington Post. “It was very difficult. It was like a ton of bricks dropped on me.

Erin Kelly

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

According to Kelly’s granddaughter Briana Navarro, “everything is in God’s hands.”

Navarro wrote in a GoFundMe post that Kelly’s family was notified Friday that Kelly died in the Eaton fire.

“We decided to evacuate on Tuesday night, but my grandmother decided to stay,” Navarro wrote. She later asked her father to check on Kelly, but Kelly again refused to evacuate.

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

Navarro, her husband and two children live with Kelly. They lost everything in the fire, according to the post.

Victor Shaw

Victor Shaw, 66, decided this week to try to put out the Eaton Bear Fire with a garden hose rather than evacuate his longtime home, KTLA reported.

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

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

Rodney Nicholson

“Son, the winds are really, really strong,” Rodney Nickerson said in a final phone call as the Eaton Fire approached his home in Altadena.

Son Eric Nickerson remembers every word of his last conversation with his father. They were very close and spoke every day.

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

Nickerson Jr. recalled being unable to reach his father late Tuesday or the next morning.

When other family and friends learned of Rodney’s death, they worked to break the news to his son.

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

The tight-knit, working-class community where Rodney Nickerson has lived for more than 50 years and where his son grew up was nearly destroyed by fire.

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

Rory Callum Sykes

A former Australian child star died in a Los Angeles wildfire that ripped through his family’s Malibu, Calif., estate earlier this week, according to his mother.

Rory Callum Sykes’ mother Shelley Sykes writes on X Thursday, January 8 Rory Callum Sykes ( Rory Callum Sykes’ cabin on his family’s 17-acre estate at Mount Malibu TV Studios was destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 8.

Shelley Sykes described her son, who appeared in the 1998 British TV series Kiddy Kapers, as “beautiful” and “wonderful” and said she was “heartbroken” by his death.

She said she tried to put out wildfire embers on her roof with a hose but was unsuccessful because water didn’t work.

“He said, ‘Mummy leave me’ and no mum can leave their child. My arm was broken and I couldn’t lift him or move him,” Sykes told Australia’s First News.

Her 32-year-old son was born blind with cerebral palsy but is famous for his speeches about overcoming his disability. He is the co-founder of the Joy Charity, which provides services “to bring hope, happiness and health to those who are hurting,” according to its website.

Sykes describes himself on his website as a professional speaker and consultant to many companies, including the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

“Through surgery and therapy, he overcame many difficulties, regained his sight and was able to learn to walk. Despite the pain, he was keen to travel the world with me, from Africa to Antarctica,” Shelley Sykes in X wrote.

Randall “Randy” Miod

Randall “Randy” Miod, 55, died in the place he loved most: his home.

Miod lived in a Malibu beach house for decades, according to his mother, Carol Smith.

Smith said detectives found human remains at Meod’s home and told CNN that all of his roommates have been accounted for.

“(His home) was his prized possession. It was the only house he owned,” Smith said. “He feels very lucky to live in Malibu. It’s a dream come true because he’s been surfing since he was a teenager.

About 30 years ago, Miod rented a studio apartment attached to the house. Thirteen years later, the owner offered to sell the house at a discount, and Miod jumped at the opportunity.

Since then, the house on Pacific Coast Highway has been known to locals as the “crab shack,” Smith said. Meod had an open-door policy, she said, and friends were constantly coming and going from the 1924 red barn-style home.

“He drew people to him like a magnet. People loved him and he loved people. He was a very nice guy,” Smith said. “There was always a party, wherever Randy went, there was a party.”

Miod is determined to protect his beloved house.

When they spoke on the phone Tuesday, he told Smith he had a garden hose ready. She believed he had no idea how big the flames would become.

“He’s been through a lot of fires and he’s come out unscathed. I think he thought he could do it again,” Smith said. “Now that I realize how many memories he had in that home, I can understand why he didn’t want to leave.”

Miod has lived in California his entire life, spending much of the past few decades running restaurants and surfing.

“He used to skip class in high school and go surfing. I remember one time I had to hide his surfboard,” Smith said with a laugh. “I said, ‘You should be in school. You shouldn’t be on the beach.

She said the last year had been difficult for Miod because he lost his restaurant job, broke a finger and had to say goodbye to his cat of many years. However, Smith said that despite the difficulties, he always maintained a positive outlook on life and looked for the silver lining. He even recently got a new kitten.

“He’s one of a kind…I’ve never seen anyone like him,” Smith said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Jennifer Hauser, Taylor Gargano, Amanda Jackson, Jillian Sykes, Negal Mahmoudi and Amanda Moussa contributed to this report contributed.

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