Part of that investigation is certain to focus on a key ingredient in fighting fires: water.
As high winds stoked flames Wednesday morning, firefighters could be heard on radio broadcasts relaying an alarming development.
“We’ve lost most of the hydrant pressure,” one firefighter said around 2:45 a.m. as he requested help refilling fire engines, according to a county dispatch recording.
“Got dry hydrants,” said another.
Experts told CNN even fully functioning hydrants would not have been enough to battle fires of the magnitude of those that raged this week, particularly when air resources, such as helicopters and fixed-winged aircrafts were grounded due to the wind.
“I don’t know a water system in the world that is that prepared for this type of event,” said Greg Pierce, a water-resource expert at UCLA.
Still, fully operational hydrants could have helped minimize some of the damage, saving a house here, or snuffing out embers there.
In the Pacific Palisades – which is at the far end of the municipal water system and experiences reduced water flow due to decreasing pipe sizes extending from the main line – the dry hydrants were due to unprecedented demand placed on a system that was not designed for fighting wildfires, said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive officer and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Quiñones said firefighters battling the blaze in the Palisades created four times the normal demand in the area for 15 straight hours. Three separate storage tanks of roughly one million gallons of water each support fire hydrants in the area. These tanks sporadically ran dry Tuesday night and Wednesday morning leading the pressure in fire hydrants to drop. Quiñones said 20% of hydrants used to fight the Palisades fire ran dry on Wednesday.
“We’re fighting a wildfire with urban water systems and that is really challenging,” she said. “This is an unprecedented event.”
Crowley had also expressed concern in a January 2023 memo. “From the effects of climate change, seasonal Santa Ana wind conditions, to the impact of increased construction in the high severity fire areas, the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) is facing a year round fire season,” she wrote, noting that expanded staffing would be needed to meet this “new normal,” which has been further worsened as the number of prison inmates who have traditionally worked alongside firefighters as part of the state’s conservation camp program have dwindled due to state prison reforms.
