L.A. Businessman Slammed After Offering ‘Any Amount’ for Private Firefighters to Protect Palisades Mansion

Keith Wasserman posted the message on his since-deleted X account on Jan. 7

Anna Lazarus Caplan is a writer-reporter for PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work previously appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Dallas Morning News, Eater and other publications

A real estate executive in California is drawing ire for offering to pay “any amount” to private firefighters to protect his home from the fire devastating the Pacific Palisades.

Keith Wasserman, the co-founder of Gelt Venture Partners, posted a message to his X account — which has since been deleted — on Tuesday, Jan. 7, asking for help. 

“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,” he wrote.

According to the New York Post, pushback on his query prompted the businessman to delete his account but not before he wrote in a final post: “Mama, I’m going viral!”

“Incredible nerve,” reposted one X user. “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.”

Online critics slammed Wasserman for diverting any potential firefighting help to the depleted area. 
During a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 8, Los Angeles officials noted fire hydrants were running out of water in the Pacific Palisades amid the area’s raging wildfires.

PEOPLE reached out to Wasserman for comment on Thursday, Jan. 9.

“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said.

The Los Angeles wildfires are expected to be the costliest in United States history, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, citing JPMorgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar.

Total economic losses from the fires are now pegged at close to $50 billion, Bhullar said.

According to the analyst’s estimate, insured losses may be over $20 billion and “even more if the fires are not controlled.”