A man holding a garden hose and a father at his son's bedside are among the LA wildfire victims

LOS ANGELES — At least 11 people were killed and thousands of structures were burned as fierce wildfires raged in the Los Angeles area. The dead include four men and one woman 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 and his son, Justin

Anthony Mitchell, a 68-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 30s.

''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 30s, 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 respond to a Facebook message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Victor Shaw

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

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.

Erliene Kelley

When the Eaton fire began spreading Tuesday night, 83-year-old Erliene Kelley did not want to evacuate because previous fires had never reached her Altadena home.

''She was adamant about staying,'' her granddaughter Briana Navarro told the Los Angeles Times. ''My husband kept asking her if she was sure, if she didn't want to come with us.''

After moving from Monmouth, Ill., Kelley and her late husband, Howard, bought their house in the late 1960s and raised two kids there. Navarro said she and her husband and two kids moved in with her grandmother after their grandfather's death. Her father, who lives 10 minutes away, also tried to get her grandmother to leave, but she refused.

Navarro and her family as well as her father evacuated the area after receiving orders to do so. She kept in constant contact with her grandmother over text, she said.

The service cut out at one point, but her grandmother sent one last text to her father in the middle of the night saying she would be evacuated.

When her father went to check on their home the next day, nothing was left of their home but rubble. Police confirmed Friday that her grandmother had passed away.

Navarro did not respond to calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

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This story has been corrected to show the ages of Anthony Mitchell and his sons.