Outrage is still boiling nearly a year after the deadly Palisades fire, with the hardest-hit residents now targeting the city and state with lawsuits over what they call a \u201ccomplete failure by the government on multiple levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do whatever you can for your baby, and Rory was my miracle boy,\u201d Shelley Sykes, who lost her 32-year-old son in the fire told The Post. <\/p>\n
Sykes recalled that dreadful morning on January 7, 2025 as the fires started to grow<\/a> and embers fell on the guest house where her son, a former childhood actor with cerebral palsy, was living. <\/p>\n Rory Sykes died in the Palisades fire in January 2025. Shelley Sykes<\/p>\n \u201cI came running up the drive, burnt the hair off my head, and I tried to get the hose out unravel it and try and put the the flames out, but then no water came out,\u201d Sykes said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t understand why there was no water, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Sykes went to the Fire Department for help but by the time they arrived back to the home it was too late. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got here, there was no body, there was no nothing<\/a>. It was pulverized,\u201d She said. <\/p>\n Heartbreaking stories<\/a> like the one from Sykes are told over and over again throughout the 16 wrongful death lawsuits that were filed in the last few weeks of December.<\/p>\n Arthur Simoneau was described as a loving father and adventurer who built his home in Topanga, California with his own hands. His body was found near the door to his home \u201cindicating he had died trying to protect it,\u201d according to the lawsuit. <\/p>\n Others, like Monique Lasky, lost a loved one as a result of the tragic blaze \u2014 her husband, Marc, \u201cwas physically and\u00a0emotionally injured\u201d and suffered for months after the fire, ultimately taking his own life, the lawsuit read. \u00a0<\/p>\n Arthur Simoneau built his own home in Topanga, California. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult anniversary<\/a> coming up tomorrow for them because we all think of our home as our castle and it\u2019s a place that hopefully we can get some peace from outside world, but, you know, when you lose a family member to a fire it\u2019s hard to imagine a more horrific way to die than in a fire,\u201d Alexander Robertson, an attorney representing Sykes, told The Post. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of trauma associated with the anniversary for those families.\u201d<\/p>\n A coalition of law firms is working on behalf of the victims, alleging not only did the state and city mishandle the situation, but that the Palisades Fire could have been prevented.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a complete failure<\/a> by the government on multiple levels,\u201d Attorney Roger Behle, whose firm is representing a handful of the cases, told The Post. \u201cThe fire shouldn\u2019t have started in the first place. \u2029That should have been something the state prevented. But once it starts, that\u2019s where the city in its infrastructure steps in and says, all right, well, let\u2019s at least give the firefight some water.\u201d<\/p>\n Shelley Sykes went to the Fire Department for help but by the time they arrived back to the home it was too late. Shelley Sykes<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is coming soon. Sign up for updates.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet in early. Be the first to know about launch and home delivery.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n