Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame ‘tremendous demand’
As wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.
“The hydrants are down,” said one firefighter in internal radio communications.
“Water supply just dropped,” said another.
By 3 a.m. Wednesday, all water storage tanks in the Palisades area “went dry,” diminishing the flow of water from hydrants in higher elevations, said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the city’s utility.
“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones said Wednesday morning. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”
Pathetic. https://t.co/e7mhdnqDZi
— The Great Martis (@great_martis) January 9, 2025