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On January 7, a significant wildfire event unfolded in Los Angeles, resulting in the destruction of numerous homes. Fire hydrants in the area failed to operate, exacerbating the situation as flames spread rapidly, driven by winds reaching up to 100 miles per hour. The intensity of the fires outpaced the capacity of water pumps, creating a crisis for both residents and firefighters.
“Given the area’s history with wildfires, one would expect better preparedness,” remarked Joan Zoloth, a long-time resident who tragically lost her childhood home in the Palisades Fire, along with her own and her son’s properties.
“People often overlook that Malibu is home to many educators and not just celebrities,” Zoloth added, shedding light on the community’s diverse makeup.
In the aftermath of the fire, journalists from CNBC investigated the failures of LA’s water supply system and sought lessons for future preparedness, especially as approximately 1 in 6 Americans now reside in regions with a high risk of wildfires.
California’s State Fire Marshall Daniel Berlant stated that maintaining water pressure in such a large-scale urban fire poses substantial challenges for any firefighting system.
Officials explained that the primary issue was water pressure, rather than an outright shortage of water. The Palisades area relies on three 1 million-gallon water tanks situated in the hills, which utilize gravity to deliver water. While the tanks were fully stocked at the onset of the fire, they could not be replenished quickly enough to meet the demands of firefighters on the ground. Consequently, as the tanks emptied, about 20% of fire hydrants experienced decreased water availability.
“In similar topography, hydrants would have run dry anywhere in the world during such a fire,” commented Greg Pierce, director of the UCLA Human Right to Water Lab.
Complicating matters was the closure of a nearby 117 million-gallon reservoir. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles city council members have since called for investigations into the reservoir’s unavailability, which was due to repairs following a tear in its cover.
“The absence of that reservoir could have made a notable impact,” Pierce noted. “However, even if it had been operational, it is unlikely it would have been sufficient to stop the fire.”
High winds also impeded aerial firefighting efforts, preventing aircraft from making water and fire retardant drops during critical moments of the fire’s advancement.
In response, firefighters implemented a variety of strategies, such as connecting multiple engines to operational hydrants, using large water tenders, and even sourcing water from residential swimming pools. The LA Department of Water and Power increased water flow to the affected area and deployed 15 water tankers to replenish fire trucks directly, although these measures proved inadequate.
Response and Accountability
As the immediate threat subsided, misinformation surrounding the wildfire began to circulate. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated its rumor response platform, while the LA Fire Department countered inaccuracies spreading through social media.
Former President Donald Trump attributed water shortages during the fires to environmental protections aimed at preserving the Delta smelt, an assertion that experts roundly dismissed as false. Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute, labeled such claims as “nonsense,” emphasizing that water availability for firefighting was unaffected by environmental policies.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order focused on prioritizing water resources for Southern California, seeking to revise water policies that he deemed problematic.
Gleick clarified that Southern California’s reservoirs were at higher-than-normal levels, thanks to the previous two rainy seasons. “Misinformation that more water from Northern California would have made a difference is unfounded,” emphasized UCLA’s Pierce.
Furthermore, accusations directed at billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick, owners of the Wonderful Company, regarding water pressure issues in LA were also deemed baseless by water experts, who noted that their extensive agricultural operations have no link to the local water challenges.
“This is a localized issue, with no connections to those higher-level discussions,” said Felicia Marcus, former chair of California’s State Water Resources Control Board.
Criticism surrounding state and local water management decisions also resurfaced, from dam removals to insufficient reservoir construction. However, experts contended that the primary issue was the persistently dry conditions exacerbated by climate change, with Los Angeles experiencing a lack of rainfall since May, coinciding with global temperature records being broken in 2024.
“Higher temperatures lead to increased water demand across various sectors,” Gleick pointed out, asserting that climate change is fundamentally linked to water scarcity issues manifesting in drought, floods, and wildfires.
Enhancing Water Resilience
This incident underscores that hydrants were not designed to withstand simultaneous large-scale fires and have failed during other significant urban conflagrations. Water pressure problems were also seen during the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire and devastating fires in Ventura County in 2017 and 2018.
The issue is not confined to California, as Texas faced its largest wildfire in history just last February. With ongoing population growth in fire-prone areas, the challenge of protecting communities from such disasters intensifies.
California is home to the six cities with the highest wildfire risk in the U.S., with other states like Texas, Colorado, and Oregon also situated within the top 15.
Experts suggest several steps to enhance the resilience of water systems, emphasizing the importance of increasing water supply, upgrading infrastructure, and ensuring reliable power sources for water systems.
Following the 2008 fire that consumed 280 homes, the Yorba Linda Water District implemented significant changes, adding backup generators for critical pump stations, constructing an underground reservoir, and introducing an innovative water tank known as a Heli-Hydrant, designed for rapid refueling of firefighting helicopters.
Cal Fire was able to efficiently manage the Blue Ridge Fire in 2020 through the use of the Heli-Hydrant, managing to contain the fire to just five acres.
San Francisco, which suffered extensive damage in the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires, developed a specialized fire-suppression water system by 1913, integrating seawater infiltration and numerous underground cisterns to enhance emergency water supply.
Emerging technologies, such as unmanned data collection drones and autonomous water cannon systems, are also being explored, yet the primary hurdle remains financial constraints.
“Agencies face the challenge of balancing customer rates with necessary advancements for improved infrastructure,” Marcus elaborated, recognizing the pressures faced by water management entities.
Source
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