Grim twist after Aussie is killed in Los Angeles wildfire – as his heartbroken mum breaks down in tears in emotional TV interview

An Australian who died in the Los Angeles bushfires cannot be added to the official death toll until cadaver dogs find his body.

Rory Callum Sykes, 32, died Thursday when his cottage on his mother’s Malibu property burned down.

He was born blind and had cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking, but could have lived a successful life and worked as a motivational speaker.

His death came despite his mother Shelley Sykes’ desperate attempts to put out the fire with a garden hose.

‘He was my baby. I’m just sad we couldn’t save him,” Ms Sykes said through tears on Channel Nine Today performance on Sunday morning.

Mr. Sykes was at his cottage on his mother’s 17-acre Malibu estate when fire engulfed the property.

“Rory’s feet started to swell in the heat and he couldn’t walk very well,” Mrs Sykes said.

“And he also had stomach problems, so he didn’t want to be far from the bathroom,” the distraught mother said.

“So he said, Mom, you go, I’ll stay. Well, I can’t possibly leave.

‘So I stayed in the main house in a bathroom with my two peacocks because it was hard to breathe. Sitting on the floor with bottled water and trying to stay wet.”

She was keeping an eye on Rory’s house, but then noticed cinders on the roof.

“I couldn’t put out the embers on his roof with a hose because the water was shut off by the Las Virgenes municipal water,” she said.

‘Even the fifty brave firefighters had no water all day… I had to run back to the house, try to open the huge garage door that had no power, lift it up, get the car out and drive half a mile (800 meters) . to the firehouse,” she said.

Mrs Sykes asked firefighters to ‘please help Rory’

“His house has flames and I have no water,” she said.

But they had to tell her they had no water either, and when they got to the house it was too late to save Mr. Sykes.

At least 11 people have been killed as catastrophic fires (pictured) continue to rage through Los Angeles and police make a series of arrests for looting and arson.

There was “nothing we could do,” she said. ‘When I got there, the three houses were covered to the ground with black ash.

“My house was fine, the big main house, but there were embers flying everywhere and it was hard to breathe.”

Mrs Sykes said her son was a ‘very courageous man’ who had overcome great difficulties in his life.

“They said he would never see or walk, and he defied all odds,” she said.

The heartbroken mother said her son ‘died unnecessarily’ after becoming trapped in the cottage.

‘He died of carbon monoxide poisoning instead of being burned. “I didn’t want any pain for my baby,” she said 10News.

On social media, Ms Sykes said she was ‘absolutely heartbroken’.

She said Rory was an “amazing son” who “overcame so much with surgery and therapies to get his sight back and learn to walk.”

Mr Sykes had appeared on Australian television as a child, aiming to inspire others with his story.

‘Despite the pain, he was still excited to travel the world with me, from Africa to Antarctica.’

At least 11 people have been killed as catastrophic fires continue to rage through Los Angeles and police make a series of arrests for looting and arson.

More than 10,000 structures burned, scorching a total of 29,053 hectares of land in one of LA’s most devastating disasters ever.