The LA millionaires cleaned out by the wildfires, and their ultra-rich neighbors who were able to escape

Wildfires have reduced some 7,000 Los Angeles homes to ash and rubble since January 7.The fires are now 99 percent contained, but consumed 37,000 acres – two and a half times the size of Manhattan.Most residents can now access their properties, though thousands remain homeless or displaced. In the tony areas of Pacific Palisades and Malibu – two of the worst hit, engulfed by the Palisades fire – the devastation has exposed a divide between the superbly rich and the merely affluent. It goes to show that in a city with 205,400 millionaires, a net worth in the low seven figures – much of it derived from a home’s value – does not necessarily make you feel rich.Terrible as it all was, though, some who fell victim to the wildfires had softer landings than others. A TV writer, in the Wall Street Journal, recalled seeing an actress’s staff driving her miniature pet donkeys to safety.

He also conveyed the horror of losing the last home he thought he would live in.Being well-off meant only so much when there was nowhere to go for shelter. The simply well-off, as opposed to those wealthy enough to own multiple homes, found themselves scrambling for places to live and dug deep to secure such spots. Illustrating the brutality of it all: Following the fire, owners of a four-bedroom house in Bel Air asked $29,500 per month for rent.It was an increase of nearly 86 percent over the pre-fire price.Antony Hoffman is up against those people right now.

After owning a place in Malibu for 20 years, he recently sold it and moved into a rental home there.That house burned down and now he is trying to find something similar.“I was paying $14,000 a month,” Hoffman, a director of movies and commercials, told The Post.

“Now an equal thing would be about $20,000 or $25,000.And I want to find a place that is in the same school district, so that my child can continue going to school here.

Malibu is a very small, very finite place.”Though it might be minor c...