Death Toll Rising In California Fires

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

LOS ANGELES (Worthy News) – At least 16 people have been killed as massive wind-fed fires swept through 37,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area, impacting entire communities ranging from the rich and famous to the poor.

More than 12,000 structures, including churches and other houses of worship, landmarks, and homes, burned to the ground in the worst inferno the region has seen.

At least 13 people remained missing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters, but it was not clear whether that was in all cases linked to the raging blazes, he added.

Famous people were among the many who lost their properties in the fire of a once-in-a-lifetime-magnitude, and some did not survive.

Former Australian child actor Rory Sykes, 32, died after his mother was unable to evacuate him. Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, was living in a cottage on his family’s Malibu estate.

His mother, Shelley Sykes, who was recovering from a broken arm, said she couldn’t move him. “He said, ‘Mom, leave me.’ And no mom could leave their kid,” she told Australian news outlet 10 News First.

She said she called the 911 alarm number for help, but the phone lines were down, so she drove to the local fire station for help. But they told her, “We’ve got no water.”

COTTAGE GONE

“When the fire department brought me back, his cottage was burnt to the ground.”

Actress Jennifer Garner revealed that one of her friends died in the Los Angeles wildfires. “I’m looking at the chimney of somebody that I loved who died there … It’s too awful to talk about,” she said.

Garner, who stood alongside World Central Kitchen food charity founder José Andrés amid a backdrop of burned homes, added: “I did lose a friend, and for our church, it’s really tender, so I don’t feel like I should talk about it yet … But I did lose a friend who did not get out in time.”

As authorities tried to avoid more deaths, more than 150,000 Los Angeles residents were ordered to evacuate.

While firefighters struggled to

contain the flames, California Governor Gavin Newsom demanded an independent investigation into the reported loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

Separately, Los Angeles County declared a public health emergency, warning that “smoke and particulate matter” could pose immediate and long-term threats.

Amid ongoing fires, the district attorney for Los Angeles, Nathan Hochman, vowed to go after “despicable” looters and scammers. Hochman said there were criminals taking advantage of residents at their lowest, who have lost homes and businesses.

‘APOCALYPTIC FIRES’

Hochman himself has been evacuated, and his sister’s home burnt down by “apocalyptic” wildfires.

He said: “We’re still under active evacuation orders, but the predators who want to take advantage of this, they need to know that this is despicable. If they want to engage in these actions, they will be held maximally accountable,” he said.

“As the district attorney of Los Angeles, I have sent an unmistakeably clear message that they will be arrested, they will be prosecuted, and they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. It is a warning shot we have sent, and unfortunately, over 20 people haven’t listened to it so far and have been arrested for looting.”

As the extent of the tragedy became clear, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced criticism for being out of the country when the devastating wildfires began to ravage the city on Tuesday.

Bass had been in Ghana, attending the inauguration of the country’s new president as part of the U.S. delegation, where she also met with the country’s first female vice president.

She returned to Los Angeles late Wednesday afternoon as the fires intensified. Her absence amid the crisis raised questions about her leadership, placing her in the crosshairs of political critics who accused her of neglecting her duties during a state of emergency.

Among those leading the charge is tech billionaire and President-elect Donald J. Trump ally Elon Musk, who called Bass “utterly incompetent.”

CONDEMNING ABSENCE

Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer and former Republican who narrowly lost to Democrat Bass in the 2022 mayoral race, also condemned her absence, claiming it contributed to a delayed response to the fires. “We have a mayor who seems to be more concerned about being at some party, wherever that is,” Caruso told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Bass defended her response at a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening, saying: “Although I wasn’t physically here, I was in touch with many of the individuals standing here throughout the entire time.”

She added that she had taken the “fastest route back,” including a combination of military and commercial flights, and emphasized her ongoing communication with officials “every hour” of her flights.

Yet that did little to calm down angry residents who called for her resignation. “We . . . urgently call for the immediate recall of [Bass] due to her gross mismanagement and failure to effectively respond to the devastating 2025 fires in and around the city,” reads the Change.org petition created Wednesday, which had amassed more than 65,000 signatures by Saturday morning.

Mayor Bass made clear she won’t resign and rejected calls for the Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley, to be dismissed over her department’s response to the fires.

“The chief and I are in lockstep” in putting out the fires and saving lives, Bass said at a news conference. “If there are differences that we have, we will continue to deal with those in private.” Bass invited Crowley to join her at the podium in a show of unity.

On Friday evening, Crowley told a local television reporter that the city had let her department down by failing to provide adequate funding to fight fires.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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