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 are up in arms after it was revealed 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 been destroying everything in their wake, killing at least 16 and displacing hundreds of thousands from the city. 

In an effort to protect their investments the ultra-rich of Tinsel Town are hiring expensive private firefighters to save their homes using a bright pink flame retardant, a move that is infuriating many. 

Keith Wasserman, co-founder of real estate investment firm Gelt Venture Partners, provoked fury after a he asked his X audience for 'private firefighters' to protect his land in the A-list neighbourhood of the Pacific Palisades. 

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

'Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you.'

Social media users criticised Keith, slamming his call for help as 'incredibly tone deaf'.

One wrote: 'Incredible nerve. His family is evacuated and he's trying to hire private firefighters to risk their lives to save a home he most certainly has insured. Incredibly tone deaf.'

Another said: 'So you're suggesting that potentially lifesaving resources (even if 'private') should be diverted to save your house because you're rich while tens of thousands of people try to evacuate?'

The real estate magnate hit back at those criticising him, calling them 'trolls.' 

Wasserman joins the ranks of LA's elite criticised for squandering vital water resources that could have been used to save homes. 

Strict water-conserving measures have been in place since 2022, with 'ordinary' residents restricted to watering their gardens twice a week for eight minutes at a time.

Kim Kardashian, who lives in a $60 million house in The Oaks – an exclusive gated community near the epicentre of one of this week's fires – was fined by city authorities that year for using 232,000 gallons of water more than her allocation. 

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

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

The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city's most famous landmarks.

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 figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.

Joseph Everett, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department's west bureau, said it has been difficult to see such destruction in an area where he, his father and grandfather all have worked as firefighters.

'It resonates with me heavily,' he said at a community meeting Saturday night. 'Please be patient as we are up there - we're still aggressively fighting fire out there.'

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

By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 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, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.

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

With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.

'Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday,' Traum said.

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

The National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

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