The lack of water available to firefighters in Los Angeles was unavoidable, say experts and the media. Hydrants ran dry because the fires were just t

Massive L.A. Water Reservoir Unavailable For Fire Fighting Should Never Have Been Drained, Says Whistleblower

submited by

Style Pass

2025-01-15 00:00:03

The lack of water available to firefighters in Los Angeles was unavoidable, say experts and the media. Hydrants ran dry because the fires were just too big and the water system too old. Even if the large Santa Ynez reservoir had been filled with water, it likely would not have made a difference, they say.

But there are good reasons to believe that it would have made a very significant difference. The Santa Ynez Reservoir is just a few thousand feet away from where the massive Pacific Palisades fire started and is the second largest of L.A.’s “ten major active reservoirs.”

It’s too early to say precisely how much of a difference it would have made, and there’s no question that LA’s fire system is antiquated. It was never created to battle so many different fires at once. What’s more, the use of so many hydrants and the destruction of so many service lines to private residences resulted in a major loss of water and, thus, of water pressure.

But the Santa Ynez reservoir was uphill from the Pacific Palisades fire and the firefighters doing battle with it would likely have had first access to its 117 million gallons of water before other firefighters below them. And that would likely have kept water pressure high.