The Palisades fire has, at the time of writing, burned over 22,000 acres, thousands of structures, and is still only 11 percent contained. It broke out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 7, and by Wednesday at 3 a.m., firefighters were essentially out of water to fight it.
The Santa Ynez Reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water and is the water supply for the Pacific Palisades. When The Free Press’s Austyn Jeffs arrived at the Santa Ynez Reservoir to take a look on Friday morning, it was closed to the public, but he hiked around the perimeter. What he found was a completely empty reservoir.
It’s been that way since about February of last year, when officials say it was drained to allow repairs to a torn cover that prevents evaporation. Austyn saw no construction materials or vehicles around the reservoir on Friday.
Firefighters told Austyn that there was no communication from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) about any water supply issues. No one informed them that the reservoir was empty when they began fighting the Palisades fire. Instead, the LAFD had to use water supply from three backup tanks, each holding only about 1 million gallons of water. They blew through it in less than a day.
Why was the Santa Ynez Reservoir allowed to stay empty for nearly a year? When it became clear that the Santa Ana winds would coincide with this remarkably dry rainy season, why didn’t the DWP start refilling it?
Governor Newsom has ordered an independent investigation, while the DWP general manager Martin Adams said that the Santa Ynez Reservoir being filled with its 117 million gallons of water would have “helped” but not “saved the day.”
For more coverage of the L.A. fires, click here.
