Rory Sykes, Killed in LA Wildfires, RIP
Josh DuBose, reporting for KTLA:
In an emotional interview, Shelley Sykes, the mother of former
child actor Rory Sykes who died in their Malibu home amid the
Palisades Fire, shared her harrowing story and grieved the
devastating loss of her son. Shelley fought back tears recalling
the final moments with 32-year-old Rory, who was born blind and
lived with cerebral palsy.
On Jan. 7, when the Palisades Fire broke out, the mother and son
stayed behind at their Malibu home believing they were safe.
Overnight, though, as the wind-driven fire escalated and sent
embers flying onto their property, a massive flare up trapped
Rory, who has difficulty walking, inside his cottage.
“I drove up to the top of his cottage, turned on the hose pipe and
no water came out of it,” Shelley explained. “I raced back down
and dialed 911 but 911 wasn’t working and all the lines were down
for emergencies.”
Despite her best efforts, she says Rory locked himself in his
cottage and told his mother to save herself instead.
Shelley said that she grabbed her peacocks and drove down to try
and get help, but when firefighters returned, the cottage as well
as the main were completely destroyed by fire. Officials have yet
to retrieve the former child star’s remains from the charred
rubble of the cottage.
Sykes is one of 24 people known to have died so far, but at least 16 others remain missing. His mother, announcing his death on X, emphasized that he was an avid gamer and an Apple enthusiast. Turns out he was also apparently an avid Daring Fireball reader. Rory’s own X feed was full of links to DF posts, right up until the day before he died.
It’s an unusual relationship I have with you, my readers. All of you know me, to the extent that my writing and podcasting reveals who I am. I know relatively few of you. But when a friend pointed me to Sykes’s sad story — and my god, his poor mother, who couldn’t save him — and his X feed, it hit me.
I can’t say I knew Rory. It doesn’t seem like he ever emailed me, nor do we seem to have interacted on Twitter/X. But I’m glad my writing was a part of his life — and I’m glad it’s part of all of yours, too. I don’t know what more to say about it other than that this whole wildfire catastrophe is heartbreaking and awful, and a reminder of how fleeting and delicate everything in life is.
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Josh DuBose, reporting for KTLA:
In an emotional interview, Shelley Sykes, the mother of former
child actor Rory Sykes who died in their Malibu home amid the
Palisades Fire, shared her harrowing story and grieved the
devastating loss of her son. Shelley fought back tears recalling
the final moments with 32-year-old Rory, who was born blind and
lived with cerebral palsy.
On Jan. 7, when the Palisades Fire broke out, the mother and son
stayed behind at their Malibu home believing they were safe.
Overnight, though, as the wind-driven fire escalated and sent
embers flying onto their property, a massive flare up trapped
Rory, who has difficulty walking, inside his cottage.
“I drove up to the top of his cottage, turned on the hose pipe and
no water came out of it,” Shelley explained. “I raced back down
and dialed 911 but 911 wasn’t working and all the lines were down
for emergencies.”
Despite her best efforts, she says Rory locked himself in his
cottage and told his mother to save herself instead.
Shelley said that she grabbed her peacocks and drove down to try
and get help, but when firefighters returned, the cottage as well
as the main were completely destroyed by fire. Officials have yet
to retrieve the former child star’s remains from the charred
rubble of the cottage.
Sykes is one of 24 people known to have died so far, but at least 16 others remain missing. His mother, announcing his death on X, emphasized that he was an avid gamer and an Apple enthusiast. Turns out he was also apparently an avid Daring Fireball reader. Rory’s own X feed was full of links to DF posts, right up until the day before he died.
It’s an unusual relationship I have with you, my readers. All of you know me, to the extent that my writing and podcasting reveals who I am. I know relatively few of you. But when a friend pointed me to Sykes’s sad story — and my god, his poor mother, who couldn’t save him — and his X feed, it hit me.
I can’t say I knew Rory. It doesn’t seem like he ever emailed me, nor do we seem to have interacted on Twitter/X. But I’m glad my writing was a part of his life — and I’m glad it’s part of all of yours, too. I don’t know what more to say about it other than that this whole wildfire catastrophe is heartbreaking and awful, and a reminder of how fleeting and delicate everything in life is.