Empty Reservoirs and Budget Cuts: What We Know About LA’s Disaster Prep Ahead of Deadly Fires

A 117-million gallon Los Angeles reservoir was empty when the disastrous fires struck the City of Angels because city leaders scheduled it for maintenance—during fire season. And just a week before the firestorm exploded, Mayor Karen Bass called for nearly $50 million in cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department—after its chief had already warned that a $7 million reduction to the overtime budget "severely limited" its response to wildfires.

These revelations add to the growing criticisms of Bass and her administration leading up to fires that have been labeled the most devastating in the region’s history.

With the Santa Ynez Reservoir dry, firefighters had to depend on three million-gallon tanks as they tried to contain the fire that soon spiraled out of control. As of Friday morning, it was just 8 percent contained and has burned more than 20,000 acres, destroying nearly 10,000 structures and forcing more than 150,000 people to evacuate. The reservoir’s closure was first reported by the Instagram account LAFD Watchdog, which an anonymous Los Angeles fire official runs.

Officials with the Department of Water and Power, which manages the reservoirs, told the Los Angeles Times that it’s still evaluating how the closure hurt firefighters’ battle against the Palisades Fire. They said the Santa Ynez Reservoir was taken offline to repair a tear in the cover, which was necessary to comply with water regulations, but didn’t indicate how long it had been inoperable. The department did not immediately respond to the Washington Free Beacon’s request for comment.

The department’s chief engineer, Janisse Quiñones, confirmed Wednesday that water tanks and about 200 hydrants in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood went dry early in the fight. Other department officials at the press conference told reporters that the municipal system wasn’t designed to fight wildfires. They have also been urging Los Angeles residents to conserve water to make sure there’s enough for the fires.

Quiñones’s predecessor at the water department, Martin Adams, said water pressure would have been maintained longer if the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been in operation, though he added that it wouldn’t have "saved the day."

Meanwhile, Bass threatened $49 million in additional cuts to the fire department the week before the fires broke out, which would have added $17 million she had already slashed. In a memo dated Jan. 6, the day before the fires started, fire officials warned that this potential cut would close 16 fire stations. That memo was also leaked by LAFD Watchdog, this time to the Daily Mail.

The fire department was working through a $48.8 million "budget reduction exercise" with the city attorney’s office, which determined that the only way to get to the desired cost savings would be "to close as many as 16 fire stations" around the city, according to the memo, which LAFD Watchdog leaked to the Daily Mail.

The $17 million Bass already cut from the fire department’s budget included axing $7 million in overtime pay, which the fire chief had warned last month would hamper preparation for wide-scale emergencies like wildfires.

Bass did not respond to a request for comment. She has said she’s confident those cuts did not hurt the fire response.

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