Stunner: Why Was Pacific Palisades Reservoir EMPTY? It Gets Worse; California Wildfires: How and Why Did Fire Hydrants Run Dry Across Los Angeles?

By admin On Jan 12, 2025

Stunner: Why Was Pacific Palisades Reservoir EMPTY? It Gets Worse

An empty reservoir and dry fire hydrants are now the symbols of California and local officials’ response to the horrific Pacific Palisades wildfire—one of six Santa Ana windblown firestorms still burning in Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered an investigation to demonstrate that he’s doing something, but the damage is being done right now.

The 117 million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty and down for maintenance when the devastating fire was sparked, perhaps in the brush, between the homes and the Pacific Coast Highway. You can see a map of the area in my story Good Intentions Might Be the Cause of Devastating Palisades Fire.

Friday, officials confirmed that the reservoir had been down for nearly a year —closing in February 2024—for maintenance to the cover of the reservoir.

The New York Times reports that a contractor was hired in November to fix a crack in the cover. It is unclear why the reservoir had to be shut down for that extended period of time.

The ripple effect was beyond devastating.

This empty reservoir wasn’t caused by Climate Change. It was caused by Democrats. pic.twitter.com/WrLFHYOsBh

— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) January 10, 2025

The fires broke out Tuesday, Jan. 7. By the next day, Janisse Quiñones, the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said their system tanks went dry three times. You’ll want to remember that because the story is about to get worse.

We have three large water tanks, about a million gallons each. We ran out of water in the first tank at about 4:45 p.m. yesterday. We ran out of water in the second tank about 8:30 p.m. and the third tank about 3 a.m. this morning.

She never mentioned the empty reservoir, though former DWP Commissioner and mayoral candidate Rick Caruso did say that “the reservoir” hadn’t been filled. He was right and righteously angry.

Firefighters complained that there was no water coming out of the hydrants. The fires burned uncontrollably. —>READ MORE HERE

California wildfires: How and why did fire hydrants run dry across Los Angeles?

As Los Angeles battles multiple fast-moving wildfires, emergency officials have faced a nightmare situation: fire hydrants running out of water.

“How do you fight a fire with no water?” Ryan Babroff, a volunteer firefighter battling the Eaton Fire, told The Washington Post.

At some point this week, up to 20 per cent of the city’s hydrants went dry, according to LA mayor Karen Bass. And on Thursday night, firefighters had stopped tapping into hydrants at all.

“Right now, we’re not utilizing the hydrants,” Kristin M. Crowley, chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Thursday.

By Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom had called for an independent investigation into the hydrant issue.

“We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” he wrote in a statement on X.

Critics have sounded off on the situation from near and far.

Rachel Darvish, a resident of the scorched Pacific Palisades neighborhood, went viral after she confronted Governor Newsom over the tapped-out hydrants, insisting she would “fill up the hydrants myself.”

Meanwhile, real estate developer and former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso alleged “absolute mismanagement by the city.”

Some on the right, meanwhile, have used the shocking water shortage to attack California’s Democratic leadership and policies. Donald Trump claimed the governor’s “gross incompetence” and decision not to open up “the water main” in Northern California was to blame, while Elon Musk has argued everything from environmental protections for endangered fish to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s diversity initiatives were behind the issues with the fire response.