On the morning of January 7th, Los Angeles woke up unaware that the city and its people were about to change forever.
The most destructive fire in the city’s history has claimed thousands of homes and businesses and claimed at least 24 lives as of Sunday.
Here are some of the lives lost in the 2025 Southern California fires.
Arlene Kelly, 83, center, daughter Lisa and son Trevor.
(Brianna Navarro)
Altadena
Arlene Kelly and her late husband Howard purchased a blue-gray three-bedroom home on Tonia Street in Altadena in the late 1960s.
There they raised two children, watched their grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up, and celebrated holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries.
Kelly, a retired pharmacist, had a spotlessly clean home filled with family photos and knick-knacks that gave the home a cozy and inviting feel.
“She knew everyone in town,” said her granddaughter Brianna Navarro. “When I went somewhere with her, she would stop about five times to talk to someone. She was really nice.”
After Howard’s death, Navarro and his family moved to his grandmother’s house. The family was home on the night of January 7 when Navarro peered through the kitchen window and saw smoke rising in the distance.
She and her husband packed up and prepared to leave. The fire appeared to be still far away, and Kelly refused to evacuate with him.
At 1:22 a.m. the next day, the grandmother responded to a text message from Navarro asking how things were going at home. “Looking outside in the living room,” she wrote. “I’ll take a photo.”
The photo did not arrive. On January 9, police alerted the family that a body had been found in the rubble of what once stood as a home, Navarro said.
Randall Miod, 55 years old
malibu
Randy “Klo” Miodo described himself as “Malibu’s mystery man” on his Instagram page.
After his death in the Palisades fire, friends recalled fond and happy memories of Malibu’s surf scene.
As a teenager growing up in Chatsworth, long-haired skater Miodo “looked like Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times.” [at Ridgemont High]Miodo’s friends posted a joint post on Instagram. “It was always fun to be with him.”
He moved to Malibu 30 years ago and rented a studio attached to a 100-year-old red barn-style house near the beach, his mother, Carol Smith, told CNN. Later, when the landlord offered him the opportunity to buy a house, he was eager to buy.
As his home was known locally, friends took to social media to pay tribute to Miodo and his many parties at the “crab hut”.
Miodo’s body was found there after the fire. According to the Malibu Times, he was holding a kitten.
“He had been through many fires and survived unscathed. I think he thought he could do it again,” Smith told CNN. “Now that I know how many memories he had of that house, I understand why he didn’t want to leave.”
Anthony Mitchell Sr. is surrounded by generations of family.
(Photo courtesy of Anthony Mitchell)
Anthony Mitchell Sr. and Justin Mitchell
Altadena
Anthony Mitchell Sr., the beloved matriarch of a large family, died alongside his son, Justin Mitchell, as they huddled in their Altadena home as the Eaton Fire raged on.
Anthony Sr., a man in his early 70s, was a father figure to many and a “father figure” to many of his cousins, said his son Anthony Mitchell Jr. [his job] Seriously” as a father, eldest brother, and uncle.
Anthony Jr. told his sons and their friends: “That’s the type of guy I am, African-American guys in general, I see kids I don’t know, and I see the same kids all the time…” They’ll give you advice. Anthony Jr. added that his father lived with his grandfather for a time in the 1960s and inherited “old, real family values.”
Anthony Sr. gave his nieces and nephews the nicknames Chocolate Red, Coco, Peanut Butter and Horchata. A nephew who kept stealing his father’s payday candy bars during Christmas was given the nickname Payday.
“He told me about his children and great-grandchildren, all of which he considered his legacy,” Anthony Jr. said.
Anthony Sr. lived at the home of his other son, Jordan, where he hosted the entire family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The father, an amputee who uses a wheelchair, was caring for his son Justin, who was born with cerebral palsy.
“They told my dad he thought he was lucky to live to be 12 years old. So it’s a miracle he lives to be 30,” Anthony Jr. said. “My father loved his brother and would often sit and talk to him. That was his son.”
Justin “had the mindset of a child,” his brother said, and loved comics.
“He was sweet,” Anthony Jr. said of Justin.
Rodney Kent Nickerson, 82 years old
Altadena
Rodney Kent Nickerson bought his beloved Altadena home in 1968 for a total of $5, his daughter Kimiko Nickerson told KCAL News.
He raised his children there and then his grandchildren. He built a pool in his grassy backyard.
The family’s roots in Los Angeles ran deep. His grandfather, William Nickerson Jr., founded the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, at one time the largest black-owned business west of the Mississippi River. The Watts public housing complex, Nickerson Gardens, is named after him.
But for Rodney, Altadena was home. He was a project engineer for 45 years at Lockheed Martin, where his late wife also worked. When Lockheed moved from Burbank to Palmdale in 1989, Nickerson chose to commute about 130 miles round trip each day rather than leave the neighborhood, her daughter told KCAL.
And he wasn’t even ready to leave when the Eaton Fire broke out about three miles from his home, his daughter said.
Nickerson refused all requests to evacuate, as his grandson, who lived with him, frantically packed his car.
Kimiko Nickerson said she told her son, “If I have to go, I’ll go.” “But grandson, there’s no need to go now.”
His family kept in touch with him by phone until he left for the evening and lay in bed. When they were allowed back on the premises, they discovered him there.
“‘Everything will be fine,’ he told his daughter in their final conversation on the night of January 7. ‘I’ll be here when you guys get back.’
Annette Rossilli, who was found in her car, was staying at her home in Pacific Palisades during the Palisades fire.
(Luxe Home Care)
Annette Rossilli
pacific palisades
Annette Rossilli, who was in her mid-80s, died in her car outside her Pacific Palisades home on January 7 after refusing to evacuate with neighbors and other caregivers.
Luxe Homecare owner Fay Vahdani said staff from her home care company drove to Rossilli’s home that day and evacuated her as the fire began to approach. Rossilli’s caregiver was also on vacation that day, but they reached out to offer her home as a refuge. Two of Rossilli’s neighbors also contacted her. Vahadani said Rossili refused help from all of them, saying he wanted to be with his pets – two parrots, a canary, a turtle and a dog.
“We could have easily taken them,” Vahdani said. “The problem is you can never force someone to do anything. It was her choice.”
Rossilli lived alone in the house she once shared with her late husband. They ran a plumbing business together. She has a daughter and a son, both of whom live out of state, Vahadani said.
Vahadani last saw Rossili on Dec. 23, when she brought holiday gifts of freshly baked cookies and other sweets to all her customers.
“She was a very sweet young lady, very cheerful and full of life,” Vahadani said.
She added that Rossilli had difficulty walking. “I’m sure she is [had] Feeling so frustrated, she was able to persevere and make it down the stairs to her car, but was unable to drive away. ”
Victor Shaw, 66, was caught in the Eaton fire while trying to protect his home with a garden hose.
(Shari Shaw)
Victor Shaw, 66 years old
Altadena
Victor Shaw, a former courier driver, died outside his family home where he had lived for many years, with a garden hose in his hand.
Victor had diabetes and chronic kidney disease, and suffered from breathing problems, balance and vision problems, said his sister Shari Shaw.
When his parents went to check on their son on January 7 at the modest Altadena home they bought on Monte Rosa Drive in the 1960s, they found him becoming increasingly agitated as they watched local television coverage of the fire. did. She said he took seizure medication to calm himself down and began to fall asleep while she was packing some of her belongings.
The next day, around 2 a.m., when he went outside to load his belongings into his SUV, he saw orange flames and thick smoke billowing toward his parents’ home.
“Victor, we have to leave!” she cried. She tried many times to let him go, but to no avail. She thought that if she didn’t get out of there, they would both die. She jumped into the SUV.
Throughout the night, her calls to his cell phone went to voicemail.
When Shari Shaw finally returned to her neighborhood, the modest bungalow her family had lived in for more than half a century was gone.
Her brother’s body was in the hallway outside the front door.
“Maybe he felt like he was trying to do the right thing and put out the flames,” she says. “I don’t know if he really believed he could do it, but I know he tried.”
Victor loved driving the highways to different cities in the United States and was fascinated by Route 66. In recent years, they have taken small weekend trips together to places like Reno, Lake Tahoe, San Diego and Palm Springs.
“When you’re young, you don’t really appreciate your siblings,” Shari says. “As we got older, our relationship evolved. … He was a good guy.”
The family has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for Shaw’s burial expenses.
Rory Sykes, 32 years old
malibu
The rosy-cheeked, fiery-haired ten-year-old boy paused and let out a disgruntled chuckle. He appeared on an Australian morning talk show and was about to travel to the US to give a talk in 2003, but his nerves were at a breaking point.
“It’s nerve-wracking, you know, on TV,” his mother, Sherry Sykes, said softly from the chair next to him. “Tell them, it’s not something that happens to you in life…”
“What matters is how you use it,” he concludes with a smile.
Born blind and diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Sykes accomplished much in his 32 years. Child actor, model, host of the British TV show Kiddie Capers, foodie and eater who joked that he might have had a promising career as a contestant.
He is a frequent motivational speaker who tells how he gained both his eyesight and the ability to walk after at least a dozen surgeries and decades of physical therapy.
After leaving school at the age of 15, he turned his passion for technology and gaming into a career as a digital marketing consultant. He was the co-founder of Happy Charity, a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged teens and families, and an avid player of the fantasy game RuneScape.
“He was a really kind and caring person,” said Jane Manchun Wong, a San Francisco-based blogger and software engineer. He first connected with Mr. Skies through Twitter about five years ago.
Sykes died on January 8 at a cottage on the family’s property in Malibu, his mother, Sherry, said in a post on X.
This article was written by Times staff writers Jenny Jarvey, Faith E. Pigno, Corinne Purtill, Sonya Sharp and Ruben Vives. Updates will be provided as more fire victims are confirmed.
