PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Water pressure issues during the Palisades Fire in January revealed many vulnerabilities in our water system and the ability to save property and lives. If the demand for water overpowers the system, what are the solutions?
7 On Your Side Investigates is talking to experts about ideas and innovative tools that could help in our next wind-driven fire.
“No, it should not. With what is paid into the city, into the state, we should have everything at our disposal,” Palisades Fire victim Tom Dorann replied when asked if the water should run dry.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) says they never ran out of water in the Palisades, but demand was the problem, which reached four times normal use.
READ MORE: LADWP says it never ran out of water in Pacific Palisades during fire, so why did hydrants run dry?
Firefighters need water to fight fires, and the water pressure issues during the Palisades Fire revealed a weakness in the ability to save property and lives.
“We recognize also that as the cities grow and you start building closer and closer to these wilderness areas, that that’s a challenge,” said Anselmo Collins, LADWP’s senior assistant general manager of the water system. “We need to start looking at that and figure out the best solution to provide protection in that area.”
“You’re looking at a different situation than what was imagined before. You’re going to be partnering with the fire department to determine — what’s the fire we want to fight? And how are we going to fight that fire?” said Marty Adams, the former general manager and chief engineer at LADWP.
Air operations were grounded much of the first two days of the Palisades Fire because of hurricane-force winds.
But what about a water-dropping helicopter that can fly in strong winds and doesn’t require humans to fly? It’s currently being tested by a company called RAIN, in coordination with Sikorsky.
“The hard reality is we need a whole lot more rapid response resources than we currently have right now,” said Max Brodie, the CEO of RAIN.
The aircraft is a computer taking commands from an operator on the ground. It can also look for fires by itself.
“This aircraft has a thermal sensor on board… that is scanning for the fire,” Brodie said.
“A lot of people say, well, ‘Why not just build more reservoirs and put bigger pipes in the street?’ What happens now is that you build really large infrastructure,” Collins said. “Most of the time, the water is just sitting there. Eventually, the quality of that water is going to degrade, so the idea is to have a balance between enough water for firefighting and domestic usage, but also keeping in mind affordability and water quality.”
“One solution that’s come out is about temporary water systems — about the ability to put in temporary pipe, temporary water storage, and bring that water in,” Adams said. “It’s been looked at in wildland areas where it’s a little clearer. You can see when you drive these streets how difficult it might be to bring temporary water up and down these small neighborhood streets.”
That’s what Wildfire Water Solutions specializes in — bringing water to a fire to support firefighters on the ground and in the air.
“We provide high volume water networks using very large pumps, up to 800 horsepower, and large, lay-flat hose, up to 16 inches in diameter,” said Mike Echols, the CEP of Wildfire Water Solutions. “We bring the source of water to the destination. Anything from up to 50 miles away, we can route to the fire.”
The city of Los Angeles has one municipal water system, meaning the water supplied to your home is the same water that feeds fire hydrants, explaining why water quality is always a concern.
The system wasn’t designed to fight fires where multiple neighborhoods are burning at once, which raises the question: With extreme weather events making destructive wildfires more common, do we need a second water system solely for fighting fires?
The size of Los Angeles would make that expensive to build, but it’s something being discussed.
“San Francisco, after the 1906 earthquake, they made a decision to further protect and bolster fire protection in portions of downtown San Francisco, where they built a high-pressure system that relies on using water from the bay,” Collins said. “So they can actually pump water to high-elevation tanks, it’s a high-pressure system, but they can put saltwater in it.”
LADWP also says they’re looking at ways to remotely shut off water to homes that have burned, so water isn’t wasted, adding to demand issues.
“Homes with swimming pools, or maybe someone can put a cistern for rainwater capture. Those could be local sources of water. A few people had homes set up to sprinkler out of their pool and save their homes,” Adams said.
After the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles’ history, everything is on the table.
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