section_path: Background/Human contributing factors/Water supplies
section_name: Water supplies
paragraph_text: Water supplies
  
  According to the New York Times, as wildfires roared into residential neighborhoods, the firefighters ran out of water. Officials say the storage tanks that hold water for high-elevation areas like the Highlands, and the pumping systems that feed them, could not keep pace with the demand. The pump-and-storage system was designed for a fire that might consume several homes, not one that would consume hundreds, said Marty Adams, former chief engineer at the LADWP. Professor Greg Pierce, a scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, further stated that most water systems were designed for fighting urban fires, not fast-moving wildfires.
  
  After flames leveled nearly 500 homes in Bel Air and Brentwood in the 1961 wildfire, they constructed the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a 117 million US gallons (440,000 m 3; 440,000,000 L) water reservoir located in the upper Pacific Palisades. However, on January 7, the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been completely emptied to repair a tear in its cover. The tear was first noticed by a Department of Water employee in January 2024, and the DWP was originally planning to have it repaired and back in use by April 2024. Former and current DWP officials said that if the reservoir had not been empty, the Palisades would have had higher water pressure. Former LADWP General Manager Martin Adams stated that the repair operations had been going on "for a while", and that officials typically maintained lower water levels in the reservoir during winter months to prevent water stagnation and associated issues with chemical concentrations and bacterial growth.
  
  According to the New York Times, as wildfires roared into residential neighborhoods, the firefighters ran out of water. Officials say the storage tanks that hold water for high-elevation areas like the Highlands, and the pumping systems that feed them, could not keep pace with the demand. The pump-and-storage system was designed for a fire that might consume several homes, not one that would consume hundreds, said Marty Adams, former chief engineer at the LADWP. Professor Greg Pierce, a scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, further stated that most water systems were designed for fighting urban fires, not fast-moving wildfires.
  
  After flames leveled nearly 500 homes in Bel Air and Brentwood in the 1961 wildfire, they constructed the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a 117 million US gallons (440,000 m 3; 440,000,000 L) water reservoir located in the upper Pacific Palisades. However, on January 7, the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been completely emptied to repair a tear in its cover. The tear was first noticed by a Department of Water employee in January 2024, and the DWP was originally planning to have it repaired and back in use by April 2024. Former and current DWP officials said that if the reservoir had not been empty, the Palisades would have had higher water pressure. Former LADWP General Manager Martin Adams stated that the repair operations had been going on "for a while", and that officials typically maintained lower water levels in the reservoir during winter months to prevent water stagnation and associated issues with chemical concentrations and bacterial growth.