LOS ANGELES (AP) — At least five people were killed and thousands of structures were burned as fierce wildfires raged in the Los Angeles area. The dead include four men who were unable to leave or had stayed behind to defend their homes in Altadena, a community near Pasadena that is home to working and middle-class families, including many Black residents living there for generations.
Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who has cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come for them.
“They didn’t make it out,” said Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White.
She said authorities told the family Mitchell was found by the side of his son’s bed in Altadena. The Washington Post reported the family believes Mitchell was trying to save his son, who was in his early 20s.
“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” White said. White, who lives in Warren, Arkansas, and is Justin’s step-sister, said her father called her Wednesday morning and said they had to evacuate from approaching flames. “Then he said, ‘I’ve got to go — the fire’s in the yard,’” she recalled Thursday.
Another son, also in his 20s, lived with the pair but was in the hospital, and no caregivers were on hand, White said, adding “It’s very hard. It’s like a ton of bricks just fell on me.”
White didn’t immediately respond to a Facebook message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Victor Shaw stayed behind to try to fight the Eaton Fire and was found holding a garden hose in his hand after the blaze swept through his neighborhood.
Shari Shaw told news outlet KTLA she tried to get her 66-year-old brother to evacuate with her Tuesday night as the fire approached the home they shared. He told her he wanted to stay behind and try to fight the fire, she recalled.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm – I had to save myself,” she said. “And I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames, and I had to leave.”
A family friend, Al Tanner, told KTLA they found Victor’s charred body on the side of the road with the hose the next morning. Said Tanner, “It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had for almost 55 years.”
Rodney Nickerson, an 82-year-old Altadena resident, died in his bed after staying behind because he felt that he would be OK waiting it out at home, said his daughter, Kimiko Nickerson.
She spoke with KTLA while standing by the still smoldering remains of the family home.
She said her father had experienced his fair share of fires over the decades.
“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.
Kimiko Nickerson said her father bought the home in 1968 with a $5 down payment and raised his family there.
Firefighters extinguish burning embers at a house on Santa Rosa Avenue, also known as Christmas Tree Lane, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Jeff Bridges, and R&B star Jhené Aiko, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events.
Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week's Oscar nominations have been delayed. And tens of thousands of Angelenos are displaced and awaiting word Thursday on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city's most famous denizens.
Thousands of structures have been destroyed but damage assessments are just beginning. More than 180,000 people are also under evacuation orders in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, a number that continues to shift as new fires erupt.
Late Wednesday, a fire in the Hollywood Hills was scorching the hills near the famed Hollywood Bowl and Dolby Theatre, which is the home of the Academy Awards. That fire had been largely contained without damage to Hollywood landmarks.
Here are how the fires are impacting celebrities and the Los Angeles entertainment industry:
Celebrities like Crystal and his wife, Janice, were sharing memories of the homes they lost.
The Crystals lost the home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that they lived in for 45 years.
“Janice and I lived in our home since 1979. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can’t be taken away. We are heartbroken of course but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this,” the Crystals wrote in the statement.
After her learning her Pacific Palisades home was lost in the fires, Melissa Rivers says she was grateful her family was safe but devastated by “losing pieces of my family’s history.” Rivers says she was able to retrieve a few meaningful items, including her mother Joan’s Emmy and a photo of her father.
Mandy Moore's home in the Altadena neighborhood roughly 30 miles east of the Palisades is severely damaged and unlivable, but she said Thursday after touring her property that “the main part of our house is still standing.” A studio used by her husband and his brother, two members of the group Dawes, was destroyed and they lost “every instrument and piece of equipment they've ever owned. ... Everyone we know lost everything."
Moore said she's “feeling weird survivors guilt.”
Jeff Bridges and his siblings lost a family Malibu home to the wildfires, according to his publicist. The house, on the Pacific Coast Highway, had belonged to their parents and was not a primary residence for the siblings.
Grammy-nominated R&B singer Jhené Aiko shared that she lost her home in the Los Angeles-area wildfires. “Me and my children’s home is gone,” she wrote on Instagram Thursday. “Burned to the ground with all of our things inside. Lord have mercy. Thankful we still have each other.”
Hilton posted a news video clip on Instagram Wednesday and said it included footage of her destroyed home in Malibu. “This home was where we built so many precious memories. It’s where Phoenix took his first steps and where we dreamed of building a lifetime of memories with London,” she said, referencing her young children.
Cary Elwes, the star of “The Princess Bride” and numerous other films, wrote on Instagram Wednesday that his family was safe but their home had burned in the coastal Palisades fire. “Sadly we did lose our home but we are grateful to have survived this truly devastating fire,” Elwes wrote.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who was among the stars who evacuated due to the Palisades fire, says she and her family are pledging $1 million to start a “fund of support” for those affected by the blazes burning in and around Los Angeles.
The actor announced the pledge on Instagram Thursday. The previous night, she tearfully appeared on “The Tonight Show” and urged people to help communities affected by the fires.
“As you know, where I live is on fire right now,” Curtis said. “This is literally where I live, everything – the market I shop in, the schools my kids go to, friends, many, many, many, many, many friends have lost their homes now."
The Oscar winner wrote that she had been in touch with state and city leaders about how the money might be distributed “for the most impact.”
The Recording Academy, which bestows Grammy Awards, along with its MusiCares charity pledged $1 million to help musicians affected by the fires.
“The music community is being so severely impacted but we will come together as an industry to support one another," Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, said in a statement.
The blazes have thrown Hollywood's carefully orchestrated awards season into disarray.
The AFI Awards, which were set to honor “Wicked,” “Anora” and other awards season contenders, had been scheduled for Friday.
The AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, which honor movies and television shows that resonate with older audiences, were set for Friday but have been postponed.
The Critics Choice Awards, originally scheduled for Sunday, have been postponed until Feb. 26.
Thursday, the Producers Guild Awards announced they would delay their nominations from Friday to Sunday.
Each of the shows feature projects that are looking for any advantage they can get in the Oscar race and were scheduled during the Academy Awards voting window.
The Oscar nominations are also being delayed two days to Jan. 19 and the film academy has extended the voting window due to the fires.
Flames burned parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions including the 1976 horror movie “Carrie,” the 2003 remake of “Freaky Friday” and the TV series “Teen Wolf.”
The Palisades fire also destroyed the historic ranch house that belonged to Hollywood legend Will Rogers. It was among multiple structures destroyed at both Will Rogers State Historic Park and Topanga State Park. The historic Topanga Ranch Motel, built by William Randolph Hearst in 1929, also burned down.
Rogers’ ranch, built on land he bought in the 1920s, occupied some 359 acres in what is now Pacific Palisades. It included a 31-room ranch house, a stable, golf course and riding trails. His wife donated it to California State Parks in 1944.
Beach front homes are destroyed by the Palisades Fire Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Water is dropped by helicopter on the burning Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
