Firefighters struggled to get fire hydrants to work properly on Tuesday as several fires in the Los Angeles area started to rage, with hydrants in Pacific Palisades running completely dry early Wednesday, according to fire and water officials speaking at a press conference Wednesday morning. There are currently three major fires burning in the L.A. area, which have destroyed over 1,000 structures and killed two people, with thousands more evacuating.
“We were trying to keep water at all altitudes on the Palisades, and I think about three in the morning, that’s when the hydrants went dry,” Janisse Quiñones, CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said at a press conference Wednesday.
The hydrants get water from the nearby reservoir and L.A. City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said they don’t have a specific number of hydrants that ultimately ran out of water but emphasized that it was temporary and “came in phases.”
“Our firefighters always have a primary plan, a backup plan, contingency, and emergency plan. So oftentimes, just so that the public is aware, in large brush fires, water supplies are normally limited,” Crowley said. “So with that, our apparatus do have that ability to draft water if we need to out of pools, ponds, any type of water resource. We also utilize the water tenders…”
Frustration over the lack of water in hydrants isn’t new and has become a point of contention for people who say it’s a result of mismanagement. Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of L.A. in 2022, told the L.A. Times that staff from his nearby property, the Palisades Village, were reporting the difficulties with hydrants on Tuesday.
“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Caruso told the L.A. Times. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood], and there’s nothing they can do—we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning.”
Caruso blamed city officials but didn’t appear to mention the challenges presented by climate change, which has made the current fire crisis in Southern California much worse.
“The L.A. County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said Wednesday.
The three fires currently blazing in the L.A. area now include the Eaton Fire near Pasadena at 2,200 acres, the Hurst Fire in the San Fernando Valley at 500 acres, and the Palisades Fire at over 5,000 acres. Two people have died and while the exact number of injuries has yet to be reported, the number is “significant,” according to LAist.
The Santa Ana winds have driven the dangerous spread of the fires, with wind gusts of 99 miles per hour recorded late Tuesday near Pasadena, according to the New York Times. Tens of thousands of people are currently under mandatory evacuation orders in Southern California, and emergency centers are set up to handle not just humans fleeing the flames but pets as well.
CBS reporter Jonathan Vigliotti shared a video on X Wednesday morning of the devastation in Pacific Palisades, with many buildings clearly destroyed.
This is what’s left of the Pacific Palisades. The mall survived. Most everything else is gone. Homes, apartment complexes… businesses. pic.twitter.com/Vfz721V48J
— Jonathan Vigliotti 🐋 (@JonVigliotti) January 8, 2025
Over 1,000 structures have been destroyed in the Palisades Fire, including the local public library, which has been deemed a total loss. Pet supply store Malibu Feed Bin posted on Facebook that the business had also been destroyed after 60 years in operation.
Some wealthy people seemed to look for some kind of shortcut around city services that may help them in their time of need, especially since Pacific Palisades is a generally very wealthy area. Keith Wasserman, a tech CEO and real estate investor, sent out a call on X Tuesday night trying to find a private firefighting force that could save his home.
“Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you,” Wasserman wrote in a viral tweet.
Wasserman had previously tweeted to complain about the cost of property taxes, the very thing that funds firefighters in Los Angeles, even asking incoming president Donald Trump to lower them for everyone, seemingly unaware that property taxes are decided at the local level.