[Mick]

The Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades was offline because of repairs to its cover...a 117-million gallon reservoir has been empty and offline since February 2024. Would that have alleviated the loss of water to the hydrants?

Those responsible for leaving the reservoir unfilled going into fire season WITH WARNINGS

I would encourage both of you to read Jacketree's lengthy discussion.  Unless I completely misread what he wrote, having that reservoir completely filled would not have made any difference in the water pressure of the hydrants because the water pressure is dictated by the availability of water in the local pressure zones, and those systems are designed to deliver enough water for peak use plus a single structure fire, and whatever tanks are in that pressure zone.

No municipal water system is designed to provide enough water from hydrants to fight multiple house fires and wild fire at the same time, full stop.  The reservoir being unfilled might have been a sign of poor governance, but if I read jacketree's post correctly, it is not responsible for the inability to fight the fire.

BC

I was confused because when the reservoir was built, the LA Times reported that "the facility will store 115 million gallons of water for domestic and fire fighting purposes..." and "reservoir will boost domestic and emergency supply for Pacific Palisades."

Eric Spiegelman on X: "The water pressure also failed during the 1961 Bel Air and Topanga Fires. In the years after, LAFD and DWP planned a number of improvements, for those specific areas, to make sure that never happened again. One of those improvements was the construction of the Santa Ynez https://t.co/LQCrSZaw5H" / X

[Mick]

The Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades was offline because of repairs to its cover...a 117-million gallon reservoir has been empty and offline since February 2024. Would that have alleviated the loss of water to the hydrants?

Those responsible for leaving the reservoir unfilled going into fire season WITH WARNINGS

I would encourage both of you to read Jacketree's lengthy discussion.  Unless I completely misread what he wrote, having that reservoir completely filled would not have made any difference in the water pressure of the hydrants because the water pressure is dictated by the availability of water in the local pressure zones, and those systems are designed to deliver enough water for peak use plus a single structure fire, and whatever tanks are in that pressure zone.

No municipal water system is designed to provide enough water from hydrants to fight multiple house fires and wild fire at the same time, full stop.  The reservoir being unfilled might have been a sign of poor governance, but if I read jacketree's post correctly, it is not responsible for the inability to fight the fire.

BC

I was confused because when the reservoir was built, the LA Times reported that "the facility will store 115 million gallons of water for domestic and fire fighting purposes..." and "reservoir will boost domestic and emergency supply for Pacific Palisades."

Eric Spiegelman on X: "The water pressure also failed during the 1961 Bel Air and Topanga Fires. In the years after, LAFD and DWP planned a number of improvements, for those specific areas, to make sure that never happened again. One of those improvements was the construction of the Santa Ynez https://t.co/LQCrSZaw5H" / X