The number of confirmed deaths from the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires jumped to 24 on Sunday evening.
Eight of the fire victims died in the Palisades fire and 16 in the Eaton fire in Altadena, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
Two of the victims have been officially identified by the county agency.
Victor Shaw, 66, died from smoke inhalation and burn injuries at his Altadena home. Charles Mortimer, 84, of Pacific Palisades died in a hospital from a heart attack, smoke inhalation and burns.
The Times also has spoken with the grandaughter of Erliene Kelley, 83, who died in the Eaton fire, as well as friends of Arthur Simoneau, 69, who perished in the Palisades fire.
Officials warn that the toll will probably keep rising.
Search and recovery operations are underway in both the Eaton and Palisades fire zones using cadaver dogs and grid searches, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Sunday afternoon news conference.
“I don’t expect good news from those,” he said.
Searches will take considerable time to complete given the widespread devastation wrought by both blazes and safety challenges of searching in fire zones, the sheriff said.
“A lot of these areas still look like they were hit by a bomb,” Luna said. “There are live electrical wires, gas lines and other hazards.”
Crews have to “go from house to house to house” to search for human remains, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a recent news conference. So far, more than 12,000 structures are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed in the fires and at least 16 people have been reported missing, said Luna.
Three of the known victims appear to have died after refusing to abandon their homes.
Shaw’s burned body was discovered outside his Altadena home. He was clutching a garden hose.
Victor Shaw, 66, used a garden hose to try to protect his Altadena house from the Eaton Fire. He died from smoke inhalation and burn injuries.
(Shari Shaw)
His sister, Shari Shaw, tried desperately to persuade him to leave the home as flames encroached on his 1960s bungalow in the early hours of Wednesday morning, she said. But he was set on remaining in place, and eventually she had to flee for her own safety.
“He might have felt like he was trying to do the right thing and attempting to put out the flames,” Shari told The Times. “I don’t know if he truly believed he could, but I know he tried.”
Shaw was a former courier driver who was obsessed with Route 66 and loved taking weekend trips to different U.S. cities with his sister, she said.
Erliene Kelley also died in the Eaton fire after refusing to leave her home early Wednesday morning, a family member said.
The garage collapsed at 83-year-old Erliene Kelley’s home on Tonia Avenue in Altadena during the Eaton fire.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“She was adamant about staying,” her granddaughter Briana Navarro told The Times. “My husband kept asking her if she was sure, if she didn’t want to come with us.”
On Thursday night, police informed Navarro that a body had been found in the rubble that once was her grandmother’s home.
“It’s such a heavy feeling,” she said. “In hindsight, all we keep thinking is, what could I have done differently?”
Kelley was a loving grandmother, retired pharmacist and devoted community volunteer. She bought the home with her late husband in the 1960s and raised two children there. It was the site of countless holiday, birthday and anniversary celebrations.
Erliene Kelley, center, pictured with daughter Lisa and son Trevor, was among the Eaton fire victims.
(Briana Navarro)
Friends of Arthur Simoneau, a hang-gliding hippie from Topanga, believe he, too, died while trying to defend his home.
“His nature is to protect the community, protect his house,” neighbor Susan Dumond told The Times. “He cared about the community a lot, and would do anything to try to help it.”
When the Palisades fire broke out on Tuesday, Simoneau told his longtime friend and fellow hang-glider pilot Steve Murillo that he was heading to his home to try to save it.
Simoneau had lived in the area since the late 1990s. Friends described him as “a grown-up hippie” and a “denzien of Topanga” who greeted every neighbor with a grin and a peace sign.
Arthur Simoneau, here piloting a hang glider over the summer, was a devoted fan of the sport.
(Kia Ravanfar)
Avid surfer and well-known Malibu resident Randall Miod, 55, and Rory Sykes, 32, a former child star from Australia, both died by their Malibu homes in the Palisades fire, according to reporting from the New York Times.
Father and son Anthony and Justin Mitchell both died in the Eaton fire, as did Rodney Nickerson, 82, according to the news outlet.
The identity of the remaining victims is unknown, and the medical examiner has warned that it could take weeks in some cases to identify those killed due to the conditions of the bodies.
“Please also keep in mind, traditional means of identification such as fingerprinting and visual identification may not be available and will add more time for naming these decedents,” stated the medical examiner.
The updated death toll places the ongoing fire siege among the deadliest in California history.
The state’s deadliest wildfire remains the Camp fire, which leveled the town of Paradise in Butte County in 2018, killing least 85 people.
The second-deadliest was the Griffith Park fire of 1933, in which 29 people died, followed by the Oakland-Berkeley hills fire of 1991, with 25 fatalities, and the Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma counties in 2017, with 22 deaths.
The Palisades fire was at 23,713 acres and 13% contained on Sunday evening, while the Eaton fire was at 14,117 acres and 27% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
