Huge fires that have torn through Los Angeles since Tuesday have leveled whole neighborhoods, turning swaths of the city to ash.

More than 150,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes as authorities try to keep down a death toll that has already reached 16.

One blaze devastated Pacific Palisades including an upmarket enclave that was home to celebrities like Billy Crystal and Kate Beckinsale, which — until this week — was some of the most desirable real estate in the United States.

With the area now under a compulsory evacuation order, even those whose homes survived the inferno need to go elsewhere for the foreseeable future.

The higher-than-average incomes of people forced to leave homes there appear to have tempted opportunists, who see a chance to make money from others’ misery.