As Fire Rips Through LA, First Responders Report 'the Hydrants Are Down'

Leah Barkoukis | January 08, 2025 7:30 AM

Fires are raging across Los Angeles and emergency responders are struggling to contain the blaze. High winds have not only fanned the flames but also prevented the use of firefighting aircraft. As of late Tuesday, the fire was 0 percent contained. But that’s not the only challenge for the L.A. County Fire Department. In some areas, the fire hydrants are completely dried up.

“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” said L.A. developer Rick Caruso, who owns Palisades Village. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood], and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. ... It should never happen.”

Internal radio systems confirm Caruso's account.

“The hydrants are down,” one firefighter said, according to the LA Times. “Water supply just dropped,” another added.

A spokesman for the Department of Water and Power acknowledged reports of diminished water flow from hydrants but did not have details on the number of hydrants without water or the scale of the issue.
In a statement, the DWP said water crews were working in the neighborhood “to ensure the availability of water supplies.”
“This area is served by water tanks and close coordination is underway to continue supplying the area,” the DWP said in its statement.
It’s unclear how widespread the hydrant issues were or their precise cause. In November, the lack of water from hydrants hurt the effort to combat the Mountain fire in Ventura County, when two water pumps became inactive, slowing the process to deliver hillside water.
Caruso, a former commissioner of the city’s Board of Water and Power who also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022, contended that the problem stemmed from the issues with the reservoirs that feed the neighborhood’s hydrants.
“This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” Caruso said. (LA Times)