Los Angeles wildfires: Aussie TV actor Rory Callum Sykes died during blaze
An Australian and British former child star has died in the wildfires tearing through Los Angeles.
Rory Callum Sykes, who appeared on the TV programme Kiddie Kapers in the 1990s, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at his family’s estate in Malibu on Wednesday, his mother said.
Shelley Sykes said she attempted to save her 32-year-old son, who was born with cerebral palsy, by putting out the flames on his cottage, but found that their water supply wasn’t working.
She rushed off to get help from the local fire department, but returned to find the cottage had been destroyed.
“He said, ‘mom leave me’ and no mom can leave their kid. And I’ve got a broken arm, I couldn’t lift him, I couldn’t move him,” Sykes told Australia’s 10 News First.
Story continues after the live blog
16 confirmed dead in LA wildfires
Nazahryth Bernard
The number of people confirmed dead in fires that raced through Los Angeles rose to 16 on Saturday, authorities said.
The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner published a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities.
Five of the dead were found in the Palisades Fire zone, and 11 in the Eaton Fire zone, the document said.
Death toll rises to 13 - reports
Nazahryth Bernard
Authorities have confirmed at least 13 people have died in the Los Angeles wildfires, according to the LA Times, with eight of those occurring in the Eaton blaze.
The Eaton wildfire burned through 14,000 acres and left more than 7000 structures damaged or destroyed, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
“Please be assured that we will continue to battle these wildfires until they are fully contained,” Marrone said.
“We stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation of evacuated areas disaster recovery and the rebuilding of your homes and your lives.”
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner had previously said five deaths were attributed to the Palisades fire.
Search and rescue teams were also looking for 13 people reported missing, although it is unclear if any of those overlapped with those now confirmed dead.
Stay inside to avoid toxic LA wildfire smoke, residents warned
Nazahryth Bernard
Health bosses warn people living in Los Angeles to stay indoors because of dangerous wildfire smoke wreathing the area.
Monster blazes tearing through the city are pumping toxic clouds into the air, blanketing a vast region with choking fumes. "We are all experiencing this wildfire smoke, which is a mix of small particles, gasses and water vapours," Anish Mahajan of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told a press conference.
"It's those small particles that get into our noses and throats and cause those sore throats and headaches.
"Everyone in the areas where there's visible smoke or the smell of smoke, and even where you don't see that, we know that the air quality is poor, so you should limit outdoor exposure as much as possible."
Multiple fires that have erupted around Los Angeles have laid waste to vast areas, reducing homes, businesses, cars and vegetation to ash.
That means plastics, chemicals, fuel and building materials all went up in smoke, and now hang in the air across a densely populated region.
Earlier this week, Los Angeles County declared a public health emergency because of the smoke, and banned the use of machines like leaf blowers that can whip up dangerous ashes.
- AFP
Among the LA wildfire victims: A great-grandmother, surfer, father, and son
Nazahryth Bernard
As of late Friday afternoon, local time, officials had confirmed 11 deaths – six from the Eaton fire in the northeast part of the county and five from the Palisades fire on the city’s west side.
Here’s what we know so far about some of those individuals.
'She didn't get out': Actress Jennifer Garner loses friend in LA wildfires
Nazahryth Bernard
Jennifer Garner lost a friend in the Los Angeles wildfires.
While the 52-year-old actress confirmed a close friends of hers had died, she admitted she was not quite ready to talk about it as the loss was too raw.
Speaking on MSNBC, she said: “I did lose a friend, and for our church, it’s really tender so I don’t feel like we should talk about it yet. I did lose a friend. She didn’t get out in time.
”My heart bleeds for my friends. I mean, I can think of 100 families, and there are 5000 homes lost.
“I can, without even [thinking], I could just write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes.“
Garner’s house survived the fires, and her former husband Ben Affleck sought shelter at her house after being evacuated from his own.
The latest figures
Ebba Strand
At least 11 people are known to have died in the chaotic infernos, with 13 reported missing, but the toll is widely expected to rise.
The Palisades fire is now 11% contained and spreading east after burning 9,100ha. The Eaton Fire is at 5600ha and 15% contained.
Five separate fires have destroyed around 12,000 structures, California's fire agency reported. But Todd Hopkins, who is overseeing the Palisades Fire fight, said not all of those buildings were homes.
"Structures can be homes, outbuildings, RVs, automobiles or other types of things like sheds," he said, adding the confirmed total of homes destroyed in the biggest fire was 426.
- AFP
LA mayor denies sacking fire chief
Ebba Strand
Los Angeles city and fire officials have put on a united front following reports of a furious row over the handling of devastating wildfires raging throughout the city.
In an at-times tense press conference, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass denied a report that she had been planning to fire Los Angeles City Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley.
Crowley, standing alongside Bass, meanwhile said the city's political leaders, fire and police departments were "all on the same page" as they battled the devastating infernos that have left at least 11 people dead.
Crowley had appeared to direct a barb at city leaders earlier this week when she said her department was underfunded.
"My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded," Crowley told Fox television's local network. "It's not."
Hours later, Crowley met Bass in a private meeting at city hall which ran so late that Bass was forced to miss a scheduled news briefing. The Daily Mail later reported on its website that Bass had fired Crowley.
Yet Bass and Crowley denied the reported rift as they stood alongside Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell.
"As you see here, the chief and I are lockstep in our number one mission, and that mission is to get us past this emergency," Bass told reporters.
"We want to make sure that we save lives, we save housing, we save businesses, and if there are differences that we have, we will continue to deal with those in private."
Asked if she had been planning to fire Crowley, Bass replied emphatically: "No."
- AFP
Ebba Strand
Australian man Rory Sykes, 32, killed at Malibu home
Ebba Strand
An Australian man living in Los Angeles has died as a fire tore through Malibu.
Rory Callum Sykes, 32, was confirmed to have died in a statement by his mother Shelly Sykes on Twitter.
"I’m totally heart broken", she writes.
Getty art center faces LA flames
Ebba Strand
Wildfires are looming toward the celebrated Getty Center and its priceless collection.
Nestled in the mountains above Los Angeles, the famed art museum is within a new evacuation warning zone as the Palisades Fire roars east toward populated areas.
Dubbed a "beautiful fortress" and constructed of fire-resistant travertine stone, as well as cement and steel, the center has drawn museum experts from around the world to observe its safety system.
Its roofs are covered with crushed stone to prevent embers igniting, and even in the gardens, resilient plants were chosen.
Inside, the galleries can be closed off with a vault-like double door that, museum officials say, is practically impenetrable.
"Getty staff, the art collections and buildings remain safe from the Palisades Fire," the museum said hours before the evacuation warning.
"The threat is still happening," Getty added in an X post.
The museum's unique collection comprises 125,000 artworks -- including paintings by Rembrandt, Turner, Van Gogh and Monet -- and 1.4 million documents. It also houses a research hub and a foundation.
- AFP
LA fire chief says city failed her department
Kurt Bayer
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley has blasted the City of Los Angeles for failing its more than 100,000 displaced residents who were forced to evacuate from the ongoing wildfire siege.
When asked by Fox News' affiliate, KTTV, if the City of Los Angeles, and its Mayor Karen Bass failed the city, Crowley replied: "Yes."
Crowley said that pressing staffing shortages impacted the department's response time when the blaze began tearing across Los Angeles.
"Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service," she told KTTV. "That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there's a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn't get done or that there are delays."
Pope Francis: 'Saddened by the loss of life'
Ebba Strand
Pope Francis yesterday expressed his sadness over the havoc caused by the giant California wildfires and expressed his spiritual closeness with the victims in a telegram to the archbishop of Los Angeles.
"Saddened by the loss of life and the widespread destruction," the pontiff expressed his "spiritual closeness" with the victims, Vatican number two Pietro Parolin wrote in the telegram.
- AFP
Australian citizen confirmed dead in the LA wildfires
Ebba Strand
Story continues
In a message on social media, she described herself as “totally heartbroken” about the death of her “beautiful son”.
“I couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by Las Virgenes Municipal Water,” she continued.
“Even the 50 brave firefighters had no water all day!”
“He was my baby and he died needlessly,” she added. Sykes is said to be considering taking legal action over her son’s death, although it is unclear whether this is against local authorities or the water company.
The limitations of local water systems complicated firefighting efforts, with the strain pushing the demand to four times the usual capacity for 15 hours, Janisse Quiñones, DWP’s chief executive and chief engineer, told LA Times.
Storage tanks that held water that flows by gravity to communities below ran dry in parts of Los Angeles.
After trying and failing to reach the emergency services on 911, she left her estate and drove some 400m to find help for her son.
When she returned to the property accompanied by firefighters, she found the cottage had been burned to the ground.
Sykes was later told that her son had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
“I didn’t want any pain for my baby,” she told 10 News First through tears.
Rory Sykes has reportedly not yet been included in the official death toll from the wildfires, which currently stands at 13.
That number is thought likely to rise once cadaver dogs go through the neighbourhoods which have been devastated by the flames.
Gavin Newsom, the California Governor, has announced an independent investigation after fire hydrants used to tackle the wildfires ran dry this week.
Water tanks emptied owing to what officials described as “tremendous demand”, while some residents vainly attempted to beat back the flames with water from their swimming pools or garden hoses.
On his website, Rory Sykes described himself as a motivational speaker and consultant for organisations including the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Tony Robbins Foundation.
With his mother, he founded the Happy Charity to provide “hope, happiness and health to those that are hurting”.
“[He] was born blind with cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking. He overcame so much with surgeries and therapies to regain his sight and to be able to learn to walk,” said Sykes, who previously wrote a book about her son’s recovery. “Despite the pain, he still enthused about travelling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica.”
She continued: “He will be incredibly missed by [his] mama his pet peacocks Edgee and Mickie and all his online fans around the world.”
Rory Sykes was born in Britain but moved to Sydney in Australia before relocating to Malibu.
Appearing with his mother on the Australian TV programme Mornings with Kerri-Anne in 2003, he discussed going on a trip to the US to speak at a motivational conference.
“It doesn’t matter what happens to you in life, it’s what you do about it that counts,” he told viewers.
Las Virgenes Municipal Water has been approached for comment by The Telegraph.