The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that multiple human bodies have been found inside a destroyed home in the wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area.
However, authorities say homicide detectives have not been able to process the scene due to ongoing dangers surrounding the fire, including ignition, downed power lines and gas leaks.
Officials have already confirmed five deaths in connection with the Eaton Fire in the Pasadena area, but the true extent of the number of lives lost is still not fully understood. It remains unclear whether any of the bodies found were found in the Palisades fire, although it is likely.
“Information is still very preliminary, but there are multiple deaths in the fire area,” a LASD spokesperson told KTLA. “More information will be provided once homicide detectives are able to assess the scene.”
Among the lives confirmed lost was Rodney Nickerson, 82, of Altadena, who died at his home on Alta Pine Drive. Her daughter, Kimiko, told KTLA’s Chip Yost that she has experienced her fair share of fires over the decades and feels safe waiting at home.
“He was collecting some things, packing up his car a little bit, and he said he was going to pack up, but he also said he was going to stay here…this is past. ‘And he would be here,’ she said.
Nickerson said his father bought the house in 1968 for $5.
An Altadena home is reduced to rubble during the Eaton Fire on January 9, 2024. (KTLA)
“He came right back with papers from Lockheed Martin, which is his retirement location in Palmdale,” she said. “He lived there for over 45 years and has been an Altadenan my entire life. I came back here as a child. I was born in Kaiser Permanente in Sunset, They brought me here’ home, and I’ve been here with him all my life. ”
Another victim of the Eaton fire was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, who died trying to save the family home he had lived in for nearly 55 years. Victor lived in the house with his sister, but on Tuesday night, as the fire approached, his sister tried to get Victor to evacuate with her, but Shaw had medical problems. It may have been difficult to evacuate.
Three large fires continue to burn in the Los Angeles area, with little hope of stopping. The bodies of people trapped in the Palisades Fire, the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history, are likely to be found, or have already been found, by emergency workers.
No deaths have been announced in the fire’s path, but the situation is expected to change, with hundreds of homes already destroyed.
The Hearst Fire, which has burned more than 600 acres in the San Fernando Valley, is now 10% contained and no deaths have been announced.
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