In a heatbreaking turn of event, Rodney Nickerson, an 83-year-old grandfather was found by his family amid the rubble and ash after the Eaton Fire raged through Altadena in Los Angeles.
Five of at least 10 people killed by the blazes died in the Eaton Fire.
Nickerson was discovered dead in his bed on Thursday, January 9, after his Altadena home was reduced to rubble and ash.
As his daughter Kimiko Nickerson walked through what was left of her childhood home on Thursday, she said that the last thing her father said to her on the phone was “I’ll be here tomorrow.”
“We found his bones, his whole body was intact,” Kimiko said.
Kimiko said her father Rodney insisted on staying in their family home that he purchased in 1968 for $5. The Nickerson family is deeply rooted in the Los Angeles community.
Kimiko said her great-grandfather, William Nickerson was the founder and owner of Nickerson Gardens in Watts, the largest public housing development in Los Angeles.
Rodney worked at Lockheed Martin for 45 years where he was a project engineer.
Kimiko said her mother also worked at Lockheed. She said he was probably going to bed just after her last conversation with him around 9:30 p.m., as he was still used to waking up at 4 a.m.
“That was the last thing he verbally said to me was, ‘I’ll be here tomorrow,'” she said.
“My son tried to get him to leave, my neighbors and myself, and he said he’ll be fine…”
Another victim is 66-year-old Victor Shaw who was found holding a hose after the flames ravaged his neighborhood.
His sister, Shari Shaw, told CBS News that she thinks he tried to fight back the fire.
“He wasn’t in the best of health but I know he probably fought with all his will,” she said.
Shaw said she would miss her big brother.
“I’ll miss talking to him, joking about, traveling with him and I’ll just miss him to death,” she said. “I just hate that he had to go out like that.”
67-year-old amputee Anthony Mitchell and his son, Justin, who has cerebral palsy, also died in the fire in Altadena.
“They didn’t make it out,” said Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, who said the two were waiting for an ambulance to pick them up.
White said authorities told her that Mitchell was found by the side of his son’s bed, the AP reported.
More than 10,000 structures have been destroyed in the fires as strong winds fanned blazes in densely populated parts of the region. Residents have described harrowing escapes and losing their homes, while photos show devastating scenes of properties reduced to charred debris.
