Elon Musk to donate to wildfire relief after selling flamethrowers in fire-ravaged SoCal

Elon Musk pledged to donate $10,000 to the California Wildlife Relief Fund amid a fundraising stunt involving the public sale of flamethrowers in fire-ravaged Southern California. Elon Musk pledged to donate $10,000 to the California Wildlife Relief Fund amid a fundraising stunt involving the public sale of flamethrowers in fire-ravaged Southern California. Photo: Twitter Photo: Twitter Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close Elon Musk to donate to wildfire relief after selling flamethrowers in fire-ravaged SoCal 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

Elon Musk pledged to donate $10,000 to the California Wildlife Relief Fund amid a fundraising stunt involving the public sale of flamethrowers in fire-ravaged Southern California.

The first batch of $500 devices were handed out to 1,000 people in Los Angeles over the weekend. Musk cheekily dubbed the flamethrower, peddled to promote his tunneling construction company Boring Co., "Not-a-Flamethrower" to circumvent customs restrictions and because the flames don't shoot 10 feet.

After the billionaire announced the marketing ploy last year, the 20,000 available devices sold out quickly and pulled in about $10 million for Musk's underground pedestrian tunnel project in Los Angeles.

Some folks voiced concerns about the fundraising scheme. The Boring Co. dished out the flamethrowers on the same weekend that a wildfire spurred mandatory evacuations in Santa Clarita. The fire was 75-percent contained by Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

In a series of Twitter exchanges, Musk appeared to make light of the havoc-wreaking potential of the flamethrowers, posting screenshots of the device's Dr. Seuss-inspired terms and conditions: "I will not use this in a house. I will not point this at my spouse ..."

One man tweeted a picture of himself conjuring fire from his new flamethrower. "I bought something completely awesome and frivolous, so I'm going to also donate $1,000 to the California Wildfire Relief Fund," he said.

"We don't think our product will be the cause of any wildfires," Musk replied, "but The Boring Company is donating $10k."

Multiple flamethrowers are already for-sale on eBay, with one selling for a "buy it now price" of $20,000.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.