LA fire victim's heartbreaking final voicemail to his mother before perishing in blaze

A beloved Malibu icon who died in the Los Angeles fires while trying to save his home left a heartwrenching voicemail for his mom in the hours before he perished.

Randall 'Randy' Miod, 55, had seen plenty of fires pass through Malibu during his 30 years living in the area, and always chose to stay and defend his property.

His little red home across from the ocean, affectionately known as the 'Crab Shack' among locals, was his most prized possession. 

As a fire broke out in Pacific Palisades and rapidly began spreading toward Malibu, Miod called his mother, Carol Smith, to let her know that he could see smoke billowing toward him.

'He was almost in tears on Tuesday when I talked to him,' she told People. 'I can see the smoke.'

Smith recalls telling him to save his cat and seek out a shelter amid mandatory evacuation warnings. 

'I've worried so much about him because in all the fires that he's been through, he never evacuated any of them. He always stayed. He always felt that he could hose the house down with his hose,' she said.

Several hours later, Miod called his mom back. This time, the call went through to voicemail.

'The last thing he said to me was, 'Pray for the Palisades and pray for Malibu, and I love you.'

Smith wasn't at home by the time the final call came through.

'I have that message, and I will keep it forever,' she said.

Miod's remains were found inside the charred remnants of his home in the aftermath of the blaze.

He died from smoke inhalation and thermal heat on January 8, Smith said. At the time, he was standing behind his property, trying to protect it. 

'I don't think that he ever really knew what hit him,' she said. 'The detectives said that this kind of a fire, or any kind of a fire, just sucks the wind out of you.'

Miod's community have remembered him as a hero and icon of Malibu who was often out in the surf and opened his home to 'anybody.'

One tribute described how he 'loved his house on PCH, otherwise known as the Crab Shack, so much so, that he stayed in the evacuation. 

'Randall was a special breed of human. He had a good heart and soul and he put a footprint on his stomping ground in Malibu.'

Another said: 'He was a Malibu surf legend. A man we ALL loved dearly.'

One friend described the history behind the home, revealing: 'Once the home of Steve Olsen, this house was legendary. Kelly Slater played guitar there. Tommy Lee played drums there. Pam Anderson sat on the couch in this house. It was in this house that "Todd Proctor - Todd Proctor" shaped his first longboard, where it hung for years until stolen.

'Generations of surfers walked these uneven splinter infested floors through the years. The inside of the house look like Salvador Dali painted it. 

'You could roll a marble on the floor on Tuesday and it would still be rolling around by Sunday. It was hard to tell if the countertops were off kilter or the ceiling was crooked. But it was perfect for the many surfers who lived there throughout the last three or four decades.

'We used to say no one goes to the crab shack, you just somehow end up there at the end of the night. As many did. Many rats were caught, virginity was lost and legends were made at the world famous crab shack.'

Smith said she often told him to sell the house and move because of the constant looming threat of fires. 

Miod is one of 25 people who have tragically been found dead in the rubble of the infernos, which separately tore through Malibu, the Pacific Palisades, Pasadena and Altadena.

Authorities expect that number will rise as they slowly gain access to the smoldering wreckages. 

The fires have collectively destroyed more than 40,000 acres of land and razed 12,300 structures across some of the most sought-after real estate in southern California.