While fighting the massive wildfires in Los Angeles, many firefighters suddenly discovered that they had lost access to a vital firefighting resource – water. Here's a look at how that happened and why.
What water problems have firefighters encountered?
Firefighters were still battling Thursday to control a series of wildfires in the Los Angeles area that killed five people, ravaged communities and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.
A day earlier, firefighters battling the blaze in the city's hilly Pacific Palisades neighborhood plugged their hoses into local fire hydrants and found they couldn't water flowing, said the local media. such as the LA Times reported.
Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), said the problem was limited to hydrants at high elevations.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, speaking Wednesday with her county counterpart, says a second large fire has broken out in Sylmar, a suburb of LA
What caused water flow problems?
Quiñones said all water storage tanks in the Palisades were emptied by 3 a.m. local time that morning.
These three tanks were each contained 3.8 million litres (million US gallons of water).
LADWP noted that water continued to flow in the Palisades area through its main system.
He said firefighting had caused “huge demand” in the sector – about four times the normal demand.
That lowered the water pressure in the Palisades area.
The number of hoses required for fire fighting at ground level was particularly high due to the high winds that prevented rain bombers from flying for much of the day.
Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, said at a press conference Thursday that “fighting a firewith multiple fire hydrantspulling water from city water systems is just not sustainable.” This is why air support is so important. “
In response to a media question Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged that she was frustrated by Wednesday's water issues, but noted that the wildfires were an “unprecedented” event.
“We also know that the fire hydrants are not built to deal with this type of massive destruction,” she said.
On Thursday morning, she said, the water conditions were “a little better,” as the winds had died down enough to allow for aerial firing.
What are the authorities doing about these water problems?
The LADWP said Wednesday afternoon that it had deployed 19 tanker trucks, each carrying 7,600 to 15,000 liters (2,000 to 4,000 US gallons) to support firefighting efforts.
“Our crews are working on how to refill the tanks during this very active firestorm,” he said in a statement.
It is also asking customers on the West Side to conserve water.
On Wednesday night, LADWP opened all the reservoirs to water bombers.
Pestrella said all reservoirs are full and “continue to be ready and at the disposal of our firefighting friends.” “
Quiñones also spoke at a press conference on Thursday, adding that LADWP is also working “around the clock” with other local water agencies to increase water supply and pressure.
Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crawley said the high winds forced fire crews to change their strategies and tactics, but they were up to the challenge.
“If we don't have water, we will find water, we will use water tenders, we will draft water….we are going to do everything in our total effort to do what we can with what we have.”
The good news, she said, was that the wind was going down, and she expected the rain and other windy weather to continue throughout the day on Thursday.
