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 heartbreaking voicemail for his mother in the hours before he was killed.

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

His little red house across the street from the ocean, affectionately known among locals as the “Crab Shack,” was his most prized possession.

When a fire broke out in Pacific Palisades and quickly spread toward Malibu, Miod called his mother, Carol Smith, to let her know he saw smoke flowing toward him.

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

Smith remembers telling him to save his cat and find shelter amid mandatory evacuation warnings.

“I’m so worried about him because in all the fires he’s been through, he’s never evacuated one. He always stayed. “He always felt like he could hose down the house,” she said.

A few hours later, Miod called his mother back. This time the call went to voicemail.

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

Smith was not home when the last call came in.

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

Miod’s remains were found in the charred remains of his home in the aftermath of the fire.

He died Jan. 8 of smoke and thermal heat inhalation, Smith said. At that moment he stood behind his property and tried to protect it.

“I don’t think he ever really knew what was happening to him,” she said. “The detectives said this kind of fire, or any kind of fire, just sucks the wind out of you.”

The Miod community has remembered him as a hero and icon of Malibu, who was often in the surf and opened his home to “everyone.”

One tribute described how he “loved his house on PCH, also known as the Crab Shack, so much that he stayed through the evacuation.”

‘Randall was a special breed of man. He had a good heart and a good soul and he left a footprint on his permanent home in Malibu.”

Another said: “He was a surfing legend from Malibu. A man we ALL loved dearly.”

Describing the history behind the house, a friend revealed, “This house was once Steve Olsen’s home and 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” fashioned his first longboard, where it hung for years until it was stolen.

“Generations of surfers have walked these uneven, chip-infested floors over the years. The inside of the house looks as Salvador Dali painted it.

“You could roll a marble across the floor on Tuesday and it would still be rolling around on Sunday. It was hard to tell if the countertops were crooked or if the ceiling was crooked. But it was perfect for the many surfers who have lived there over the past three to four decades.

“We used to say that no one goes to the crab shack, but somehow you end up there at the end of the night. As many did. Many rats were caught, virginities were 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 threat of fire.

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

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

The fires have collectively burned more than 40,000 acres of land and destroyed 12,300 buildings in some of Southern California’s most sought-after real estate.