LA fires raise concerns over limited water supply

LOS ANGELES - As firefighters continue to battle three major wildfires across Los Angeles County Wednesday, concerns have been voiced over the local water supply and its impact on firefighting efforts.

FOX 11's Gigi Graciette was in a neighborhood evacuated due to the Palisades Fire, where firefighters were seen holding hoses in their hands, and no water coming out. Some firefighters were even seen trying to use water from swimming pools to save homes.

During a press conference Wednesday, Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Director Mark Fitzgerald addressed the concerns, saying while the municipal water systems are equipped to service homes and businesses, they are not designed to fight wildfires.

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"A firefight with multiple fire hydrants drawing water from the system for several hours is unsustainable. This is a known fact. That's why air support is so critical to the firefight; and unfortunately, wind and air visibility have prevented that support," he explained.

He added that the county and city water reservoirs are on standby to assist.

Janisse Quiñones, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the system was "pushed to the extreme four times" and there has been "tremendous demand in the Palisades."

"The normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure. We were pushing 75 CFS on our trunk line to try to keep water pressures on the system," she said. 

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Quiñones advised customers to conserve water throughout LA County to help firefighters.

 "We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems. And that is really challenging what happened in Palisades. We have three large water tanks, about a million gallons each. We ran out of water and the first thing out, 4:45 p.m. yesterday, we ran out of water on the second tank about 8:30 p.m. and the third tank about 3 a.m. Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants and the hills," she said.

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"Because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line and so much water was being used before it can get to the tanks, we were not able to fill the cans fast enough, so the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in our trunk line. So I want to make sure that you understand there's water under the trunk line that just cannot get up the hill because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough, and we cannot lower the amount of water that we provide to the fire department in order to supply the tanks because we're balancing firefighting with water."

"It takes about 30 minutes to refill about 4000 gallons of water, and we're constantly moving that water to the fire department to get them as much water as we can," she said.

Quiñones added that there is a lot of ash in the water system, thus creating low water quality. As a result, a boil water notice will be issued this morning and will last about 48 hours. Residents affected by the notice are urged to boil the water before drinking.

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Officials have not yet said what caused the wildfires.