A Los Angeles businessman sparked backlash by writing a post on his now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account offering to pay private firefighters "any amount" to save his mansion in the Pacific Palisades amid the raging LA wildfires.
On January 7, Keith Wasserman, a real estate executive and co-founder of Gelt Venture Partners, asked:
“Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning."
The message concluded with:
"Will pay any amount. Thank you."
Here is a screenshot of Wasserman's post from his deleted account shared by X user @DogRightGirl, who expressed:
"The disconnect is jaw dropping. Just wow."
@DogRightGirl/X
The user followed up with confirmation that Wasserman peace'd out from the platform after causing outrage for being completely "tone-deaf" by potentially redirecting additional firefighting efforts away from devastated areas.
Before deactivating his account, Wasserman allegedly retaliated by calling his critics, "trolls!" and clarified he had evacuated from the Palisades.
His final tweet read, “Mama, I’m going viral!”
People thought the wealthy entrepreneur's entitled plea was, well, rich.
However, some argued that Wasserman's request was justified if he had the means to access the private firefighting protection service.
In 2019, affluent Californians had the privilege of being offered “on-call” wildfire protection from private firefighting companies as the number of fires in the state increasingly threatened expensive homes, according to the New York Post.
Private firefighting crews were historically hired by government agencies like the National Forest Service to fight wildfires. However, some firms in recent years have begun seeking business opportunities to extend protection services to wealthy homeowners.
The Palisades fire started on Tuesday morning due to a combination of California's ongoing drought, low humidity, and Santa Ana winds that blew up to 100 m.p.h. within several hours.
Tens of thousands of residents in Los Angeles County were forced to evacuate. Thousands remain under evacuation orders while several thousand more remain under evacuation warnings, according to LA County Sheriff Robert Luna.
By Thursday, more than 1,000 structures were destroyed by the conflagration that ravaged through 20,000 acres.
