4 things you may not know about the Los Angeles wildfires
2. ‘No water’ reported in local fire hydrants; Trump blames Gov. 'Newscum'
Just as fire crews ramped up their efforts in the Palisades fire, all water storage tanks in the area — which feed water to hydrants in higher elevations — “went dry,” according to city water officials.
Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), told the Los Angeles Times the fire put “tremendous demand” on the utility’s system.
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“We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones told the Times. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”
Rick Caruso, a former DWP commissioner and prominent Los Angeles developer who owns Palisades Village at the heart of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, confirmed that he, too, was receiving similar reports from his staff at the shopping center.
“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Caruso told the Times. He later told FOX 11, “There’s no water in the Palisades. There’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an absolute mismanagement by the city, not the firefighters’ fault, but the city.”
President-elect Donald Trump slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handling of the situation, referring to the governor as “Newscum” and “incompetent.”
Trump wrote: “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
