Former Child Star Rory Sykes Dies In LA Fires After Mom Was Unable To Save Him

Former child star, motivational speaker and philanthropist, Rory Callum Sykes, is among those who died in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires this week, according to his mother.

Shelley Sykes, mourned her 32-year-old son in a post on X on Thursday where she shared, “It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heartbroken.”

She went on to call the British-born, Australian national a “wonderful son” and “true humanitarian.”

Born blind and living with cerebral palsy, Sykes appeared on the British and Australian TV shows “Kiddy Kapers” and “Mornings with Kerri-Anne” as a child and later worked as a professional inspirational speaker.

His life story became the subject of his mother’s book, “Callum’s Cure,” which was published by Simon & Schuster in Australia in 2010.

According to Rory Sykes’ website, he was also a consultant for organizations like the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, as well as the co-founder of the Happy Charity alongside his mother.

“He overcame so much with surgeries & therapies to regain his sight & to be able to learn to walk,” Shelley Sykes wrote on X. “Despite the pain, he still enthused about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica.”

“He will be incredibly missed.”

In an interview with Australian outlet 10 News First, Sykes’ mother said that fire officials told her her son died from carbon monoxide poisoning after he was stuck inside the cottage he lived in at his family’s 17-acre Malibu estate.

Recalling the harrowing scene, Shelley Sykes told the outlet she was unable to get her son out of the structure on her own after downed phone lines made it impossible for her to reach 911.

“I couldn’t lift him, I couldn’t move him,” she said.

When Shelley Sykes then tried to control embers that had fallen on the cottage, she “couldn’t put out the cinders on his roof with a hose because the water was switched off by” the local Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, according to her post on X.

“Even the 50 brave fire fighters had no water all day!” she added.

This week, The Associated Press reported fire hydrants near the Pacific Palisades blaze had run dry after high demand left the community’s million gallon tanks without enough water to pressurize the system.

Since Tuesday, emergency services across Los Angeles County have been working to contain multiple wildfires spurred on by high winds and dry conditions in the region.

In addition to the Pacific Palisades fire that killed Rory Sykes, firefighters have been contending with the nearby Kenneth fire, as well as the Eaton fire which has consumed thousands of acres around the city of Altadena. A smaller but still substantial blaze named the Hurst fire continues to roar near the base of the Angeles National Forest.