Why did fire hydrants go 'dry' for crews fighting an LA fire?

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) - As firefighters battled the now nearly 16,000-acre Palisades Fire Tuesday, officials say the massive demand for water led to crews dealing with dozens of “dry” hydrants that had diminished water pressure and, in some cases, no water at all.  

The Palisades Fire, which has destroyed an estimated 1,000 structures, was first reported at around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 in the 1100 block of North Piedra Morada Drive.  

In a Wednesday morning news conference, Chief Executive and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Janisse Quiñones said that by 3 a.m. on Jan. 8, all one-million-gallon water storage tanks that supply the Palisades hydrants “went dry.”  

Of those three tanks, the first ran dry just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, the second before 9 p.m. and the third early Wednesday morning.  

“We had tremendous demand on our systems in the Palisades,” Quiñones said at the press conference. “We pushed the system to the extreme. Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”  

On X, formerly Twitter, L.A. Fire Department Public Information Officer Erik Scott acknowledged the water challenges crews were dealing with and added that LADWP proactively filled all available water storage tanks.  

“However, water availability was impacted at higher elevations, which affected some fire hydrants due to limited replenishment of water tanks in those areas,” he said. “The extreme demand caused a slower refill rate for these tanks.” 

Quiñones said much the same thing, explaining that the three massive storage tanks help with water pressure coming from the hydrants and that because so much water was being used at lower elevations, the tanks at higher elevations were not able to fill fast enough.  

“The consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in the trunk line,” she said.  

Some, like real-estate developer and former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, were quick to criticize LAWDP leaders.  

The owner of dozens of real-estate holdings in Southern California, including the Palisades Village mall, Caruso called the issue a “systemic problem of the city” and said that “our infrastructure is old,” the Los Angeles Times reported.  

The L.A. Councilmember who represents the Palisades, Traci Park, also blasted DWP, calling the hydrant issue a “chronic under-investment in the city of Los Angeles,” according to The Times.  

For its part, DWP was sending 20 tankers with water to support firefighters in the Palisades firefight, though the tankers were forced to refill in other, more remote areas.  

“We are constantly moving that water to the fire department to get them as much water as we can,” Quiñones said.  

In a notice from the city's NotifyLA System, officials advised residents of the Palisades and adjacent communities of the health risks the high demand for water poses, saying in a statement:

"The unprecedented demand for water in the Pacific Palisades over a sustained period for firefighting efforts has resulted in significant low water pressure in your area. As is common in many wildfire situations, this reduces water quality and can pose a health risk. LADWP and the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water strongly advise consumers in the 90272 zip code and adjacent communities north Of San Vicente Blvd. to ONLY USE BOILED TAP WATER OR BOTTLED WATER FOR DRINKING AND COOKING PURPOSES until further notice."