CNN
—

An amputee and his son with cerebral palsy were among 16 people killed in the fires around Los Angeles. The father was found at his son’s bedside.

One victim told a relative that he did not want to evacuate. He died trying to fight the fire that destroyed his home of more than 50 years.

Another victim, an 85-year-old woman, refused to leave her home as the fast-spreading Palisades Fire approached, preferring instead to stay behind with her beloved pets. Among those who died were a former child star from Australia and a Malibu resident and surfer who was described as a “people magnet.”

According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, five of the 16 deaths appear to be related to the Palisades Fire near the Southern California coast. Another 11 deaths were attributed to the Eaton fire, which raged east of Los Angeles.

According to authorities, the exact death toll will not be determined until investigators can safely enter neighborhoods where power lines are down, gas leaks and other dangers exist.

Here’s what we know about the victims:

Annette Rossilli, 85, insisted on staying at her Pacific Palisades home with her dog Greetly, her canary Pepper, her two parrots and her tortoise, according to Luxe Homecare, the company that provided her home care three days a week.

The Palisades Fire, the largest of several fires, began Tuesday morning. Rossilli was encouraged to leave on Tuesday afternoon.

A caregiver later offered to pick Rossilli up even though it was her day off, Fay Vahdani, president of Luxe Homecare, said Friday. Neighbors tried to persuade them to evacuate, but Rossilli refused to leave.

Firefighters found Rossilli’s body in their car on Wednesday, according to Vahdani and the victim’s relatives.

Rossilli leaves behind a daughter and a son. She operated a plumbing business in Pacific Palisades with her late husband for many years. She continued to live in the same house after his death.

She was a kind, kind and grateful person who had many friends in the community and we will miss her greatly, according to Luxe Homecare.

Anthony and Justin Mitchell

Anthony Mitchell, an amputee who used a wheelchair, last spoke to his daughter Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, on Wednesday morning, she told The Washington Post.

He told his daughter that he planned to vacate his home in Altadena, a neighborhood north of Pasadena at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Mitchell and his adult son Justin, who had cerebral palsy, lived together, White told the newspaper.

They were never evacuated: White said authorities told her that Mitchell’s body was found at his son’s bedside.

“He had no intention of leaving his son behind. No matter what happens,” White told the Post. “It’s very difficult. It’s like a ton of bricks fell on me.”

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

“It’s in God’s hands,” Kelley told her family members, according to her granddaughter Briana Navarro.

Navarro wrote in a GoFundMe post that the family was informed Friday that Kelley had died in the Eaton fire.

“We decided to evacuate on Tuesday evening, but my grandmother decided she wanted to stay,” Navarro wrote. She later asked her father to check on Kelley, who again refused to evacuate.

Navarro’s father returned to the home Wednesday to find it had been destroyed by fire.

Navarro, her husband and their two children lived with Kelley. According to the post, they lost everything in the fire.

Victor Shaw, 66, decided to fight the raging Eaton fire with a garden hose this week rather than evacuate his longtime family home, according to KTLA.

The Los Angeles County coroner has confirmed his death died at his home from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.

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

In one of his final phone calls as the Eaton Fire approached his home in Altadena, Rodney Nickerson said, “Boy, the wind is really, really picking up.”

The son, Eric Nickerson, remembers every word of the last conversation with his father. They were very close and talked every day.

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

The younger Nickerson recalled that he was unable to reach his father on Tuesday or the following morning.

After learning of Rodney’s death, other family members and friends scrambled to break the news to his son.

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

The close-knit, working-class neighborhood where Rodney Nickerson lived for more than 50 years – and where his son grew up – was virtually destroyed by fire.

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

A former child star from Australia died when the Los Angeles wildfires devastated his family’s Malibu estate in California earlier this week, according to his mother.

Rory Callum Sykes was at the family’s 17-acre Mount Malibu TV Studios estate, where he had his own cottage, when it burned during the Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, his mother, Shelley Sykes, wrote on X on Thursday.

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

She said she tried to put out the ashes of a forest fire on the roof of her property with a hose, but was unable to do so because the water wasn’t working.

“He said, ‘Mom, leave me,’ and no mother can leave her child. And I have a broken arm, I couldn’t lift it, I couldn’t move it,” Sykes told Australia’s 10 News First.

Her 32-year-old son was born blind with cerebral palsy and had become famous for his speeches about overcoming disabilities. He co-founded Happy Charity, which, according to its website, “provides hope, happiness and health to those in need.”

On his website, Sykes described himself as a professional speaker and consultant for many companies, including the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

“Through many operations and therapies, he regained his sight and was able to learn to walk. Despite the pain, he was still excited about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica,” wrote Shelley Sykes on X.

Randall “Randy” Miod

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

That’s according to his mother, Carol Smith, who said Miod lived in the Malibu beach house for decades.

Investigators found human remains in Miod’s home, Smith said, telling CNN that all of his roommates have been identified.

“(His home) was his most prized possession. This is the only house he ever owned,” Smith said. “He just felt so blessed to be able to live in Malibu. This was his dream come true because he had been surfing since he was a teenager.”

About 30 years ago, Miod rented a studio apartment attached to the house. After 13 years, the owner offered to sell the house at a reduced price – an opportunity Miod took advantage of.

From then on, the house on Pacific Coast Highway became known locally as the “Crab Shack,” Smith said. Miod maintained an open-door policy, with friends constantly coming and going from the red barn-style home built in 1924, she said.

“He was just kind of a magnet for people. And people just loved him and he loved people. He was a very kind person,” Smith said. “There was always a party, wherever Randy went, there was a party.”

Miod was determined to protect his beloved home.

When they spoke on the phone Tuesday, he told Smith he had a garden hose ready. She didn’t think he knew how big the flames would get.

“He had been through so many of these fires and made it through unscathed. I think he thought he could do it again,” Smith said. “Now that I realize how many memories he had of that house, I can understand why he didn’t want to leave.”

A lifelong California resident, Miod has spent most of the last few decades managing restaurants and surfing.

“In high school, he dropped out of classes to go surfing. I remember having to hide his surfboard once,” Smith laughed. “I said, ‘You should be in school. You shouldn’t be at the beach.’”

She said the past year has been a tough one for Miod as he lost his restaurant job, broke a finger and had to say goodbye to his longtime cat. However, Smith said he always had a positive outlook on life and looked for the silver lining despite all the difficulties. He even recently welcomed a new kitten.

“He was one of a kind… I’ve never known anyone else like him,” Smith said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.