Fury as LA elite hire $2,000-an-hour private firefighters as pink chemicals are dropped on celebrity enclave to protect multi-million dollar homes

Californians have taken action after it emerged that LA’s elite are hiring private firefighters for as much as $2,000 an hour to save their multi-million dollar homes.

Los Angeles is currently being razed to the ground as three major fires have destroyed everything in their wake, killing at least 16 people and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

In an effort to protect their investments, Tinsel Town’s ultra-wealthy hire expensive private firefighters to save their homes using a bright pink flame retardant, a move that infuriates many.

Keith Wasserman, co-founder of real estate investment firm Gelt Venture Partners, sparked outrage after asking his X audience for “private firefighters” to protect his land in the A-list neighborhood of the Pacific Palisades.

Wasserman’s post on Friday read: “Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades?

‘We need to act quickly here. All the neighbors’ houses are burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you.’

Social media users criticized Keith, calling his calls for help “incredibly tone deaf.”

One wrote: ‘Incredible guts. His family is evacuated and he tries to hire private firefighters to risk their lives to save a house he has definitely insured. Incredibly tone deaf.”

Keith Wasserman (pictured) joins LA elite criticized for wasting vital water supplies that could have been used to save homes

Los Angeles is currently being razed to the ground as three major corporations destroy everything in their wake

Los Angeles is currently being razed to the ground as three major corporations destroy everything in their wake

The fires have killed at least sixteen people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee

The fires have killed at least sixteen people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee

Palm trees burn during the Palisades Fire amid a powerful storm on January 7

Palm trees burn during the Palisades Fire amid a powerful storm on January 7

Another said: ‘So you’re suggesting that potentially life-saving resources (even if ‘private’) should be used to save your home because you’re rich while tens of thousands of people are trying to evacuate?’

The real estate mogul hit back at those who criticized him, calling them ‘trolls’.

Wasserman joins LA’s elite criticized for wasting vital water resources that could have been used to save homes.

Strict water-saving measures have been in place since 2022, with ‘ordinary’ residents being allowed to water their gardens twice a week for eight minutes.

Kim Kardashian, who lives in a $60 million home in The Oaks — an exclusive gated community near the epicenter of one of this week’s fires — was fined by the city council that year for using 232,000 gallons more than her allotment .

Other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone and comedian Kevin Hart, were also fined.

As of Sunday morning, the wildfire in Palisades, west of downtown Los Angeles, has grown to about 22,660 acres with 11 percent containment. The Eaton Fire northeast of Los Angeles was 14,100 acres, with 15 percent containment.

The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading flames before possible return of strong winds that could carry the flames to some of the city’s most famous landmarks Push.

A Jaguar is covered in fire retardant during the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles

A Jaguar is covered in fire retardant during the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles

A person watches from a balcony as a firefighting plane drops fire retardant Phos-Chek near homes during the Palisades Fire

A person watches from a balcony as a firefighting plane drops fire retardant Phos-Chek near homes during the Palisades Fire

A palm tree burns on Sunset Beach during a wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of west Los Angeles

A palm tree burns on Sunset Beach during a wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of west Los Angeles

Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.

The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dog teams conduct systematic grid searches of leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have set up a center for people to report the missing.

Joseph Everett, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Western Bureau, said it was difficult to see such destruction in an area where he, his father and grandfather all worked as firefighters.

“It resonates heavily with me,” he said at a community meeting Saturday evening. “Be patient as we are up there, we are still aggressively fighting the fire out there.”

There were fears that winds could move the fires to the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings put more homeowners on edge.

Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported that the fires in the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst had destroyed about 100 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires covered 59 square miles (almost 153 square kilometers).

In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, while more than 700 people took refuge in nine shelters.

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response, which includes 1,354 fire trucks, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.

With Cal Fire reporting that the Palisades fire is at 11 percent and the Eaton fire at 15 percent as of Saturday evening, the battle will continue.

Firefighters watch as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California

Firefighters watch as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and Encino, California

A firefighter extinguishes flames in the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood

A firefighter extinguishes flames in the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood

A woman takes a photo on the beach with the Santa Monica Pier in the background with smoke from the Palisades Fire

A woman takes a photo on the beach with the Santa Monica Pier in the background with smoke from the Palisades Fire

“Weather conditions are still critical and a new round of strong winds is expected from Monday,” Traum said.

A fierce battle took place Saturday in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities, not far from the Pacific coast, where emerging helicopters dumped water as the fire raged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to battle the leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

The National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds could return soon. These winds are largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods where no significant rainfall has fallen in more than eight months.

The fire also threatened to jump Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.