As L.A. Burns in Firestorm, Gov. Newsom Orders Investigation of Hydrant Water Pressure Issues and Reservoir Closure

Mar. 15, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) speaks to reporters following the CNN Presidential Debate on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.Photo:Andrew Harnik/Getty

Andrew Harnik/Getty

California Gov.Gavin Newsomis calling for an investigation into how the lack of water pressure and water supply may have impacted ongoing efforts to fight the devastating Los Angeles fires.

Newsom, 57,issued a letteron Friday, Jan. 10, to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles County Public Works, calling the ordeal “deeply troubling.”

“While water supplies from local fire hydrants are not designed to extinguish wildfires over large areas, losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors,“Newsom wrote in the letter.

“We need answers to how that happened,” he added, noting that officials have been instructed to provide “an incident after-incident report.”

A firefighter battles the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025 in Altadena, California.David McNew/Getty Images

David McNew/Getty Images

“I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir,” Newsom wrote on X.

“We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” he wrote.

The governor previously explained onXon Thursday, Jan. 9, that Southern California’s “water supplies are well-equipped to support local communities fighting the wildfires.”

“Many of the state’s largest reservoirs are currently at or above their historic average storage levels for this time of year,” he added then.

Meanwhile, the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir has been out of commission for nearly a year due to repairs, theLos Angeles Timesreported on Friday. The floating cover had a several-foot-long tear in it, making space for things like debris and bird droppings to fall into the water supply. It’s not clear how long the repairs will take.

Since the L.A. fires broke out on Tuesday, Jan. 7, accounts of water problems have drawn widespread attention.

Officials previously acknowledged there were issues with water pressure due to what they called"tremendous demand” on the systemat the start of the fires, in the Pacific Palisades.

“I honestly don’t see how … anything beyond 5, 10, 15 times more investment in the water system could have really made a dent in what happened in some of these fires,” says Greg Pierce, who teaches environmental policy at UCLA.

“People are upset now and want answers,” Pierce says.

“I’m sure there’s things that could probably increase the resilience in these systems, one to three times, that we’ll do — and that could have been done, and that would’ve been great. But I don’t think that ultimately made the difference,” Pierce says, noting other key factors like how wind limited aerial support of the firefighters and the spread of vegetation in the city beforehand.

Palisades Village mall owner Rick Caruso slammed the lack of water for the fatal fires.

“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” the businessman, a former commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said, per theTimes. Caruso finished behind Karen Bass in the 2022 L.A. mayoral election.

“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 continued, adding, “It should never happen.”

Local officials addressed public outcryafter fire hydrants reportedly ran out of water in the Palisades.

“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said during apress conferenceon Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Quiñones urged  “customers to really conserve water” as the fire department continues to battle the ongoing blazes.

Firefighters battle winds and flames as multiple beachfront homes go up in flames along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu in the Palisades Fire on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty

David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty

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More than 130,000 people have fled their homes as a series of wildfires rapidly continues to engulf large parts of the Los Angeles area as of Jan. 10. In just a handful of days, the blazesrapidly grew to some 29,000 acresor 45 square miles, and there have been at least 11 fire-related deaths.

Many residents, includingcelebrities, were forced to leave their homes. PEOPLE reported Adam Brody andLeighton Meester,Anna Faris,Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam,John Goodman,Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenbergand Jennifer Grey as some of the stars who have lost their homes or had to evacuate.

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.

source: people.com