A California mother claims she was unable to evacuate her blind and disabled son during the devastating Palisades wildfire due to downed phone lines and a lack of water reserves at the local fire station.
His mom, model Shelley Sykes , said she was forced to leave Rory - who was born blind and with cerebral palsy - in the 17-acre property when multiple 911 calls failed. As the Palisades inferno tore through their neighborhood, phone lines went down and Shelley desperately drove to the closest fire station to raise the alarm. She said she was unable to evacuate 6ft5 Rory , who had difficulty walking, by herself as she was suffering from a broken arm.
When she got to the station 400m away, she was told there were no water reserves in local fire hydrants. Panicked Shelley rushed back to her home with firefighters - and tragically found their cottage 'burned to the ground'. In a heart-wrenching social media post, Shelley hailed Rory - who appeared on 90s TV show Kiddy Kapers as a child - as a 'wonderful son' who had 'overcome so much'. Las Virgenes Municipal Water denied Shelley's claims, however, and said the 'water service did remain available and uninterrupted to her property and the entire surrounding community'. A spokesman added: 'Our water system remained operational and we did provide water to the firefighters throughout the emergency and without interruption.'
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES PALISADES FIRE RORY SHELLEY SYKES EVACUATION
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