Victims of the Palisades Fire accused the Los Angeles utility that oversees water delivery of being woefully unprepared to battle the intense inferno that has devastated their ritzy neighborhood, according to a new lawsuit.
The legal action against the city’s Department of Water and Power filed Monday in state court claimed the destruction in the area wouldn’t have been as widespread if the water supply system was up to snuff, according to legal papers.
LA wildfires timeline
Jan. 1:
- Midnight: Firefighters respond to the Lochman Fire northeast of Pacific Palisades.
- 4:46 a.m.: Los Angeles Fire Department contains the fire after it burned 8 acres.
Jan. 7:
- 10:15 a.m.: Pacific Palisades homeowner resident Michel Valentine sees smoke near the site of the Lochman Fire. His wife calls 911 to report the fire, according to the Washington Post.
- 10:33 a.m.: Firefighters report seeing smoke and say they must divert resources from the two other fires, according to radio traffic.
- 10:45 a.m.: Valentine calls 911 again, but gets a busy signal, according to the Washington Post.
- 10:48 a.m.: Firefighters warn in radio traffic that the fire is moving with the wind and has the potential to spread to 10 acres.
- 11 a.m.: The first firefighters arrive at the blaze.
- 11:28 a.m.: The fire grows to 200 acres, according to radio traffic.
- 11:30 to 11:45: Valentine sees the first fire trucks arrive in his own neighborhood.
- 12:20 p.m.: The first evacuation orders go into effect in the Pacific Palisades
- 1:40 p.m.: LA Fire Department reports the blaze is now around 300 acres and growing.
- 7:30 p.m.: Fire grows to nearly 3,000 acres
- By 9:00 p.m.: The fire reaches the center of Pacific Palisades
“The water supply system servicing Pacific Palisades failed miserably, leaving residents and firefighters with little to no water to fight the blaze,” one of the attorneys representing the fire victims, Roger Behle, said in a statement.
Among the blunders was the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir, which when filled contains about 117 million gallons of water, the lawsuit argues. It has been out of use for nearly a year due to repairs.
Attorneys allege LADWP did not fix the reservoir in a timely manner, and left it unusable as a “cost-saving” measure.
LA DWP workers examining the ruins of a business destroyed by fire. REUTERSCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an independent investigation into the empty reservoir, calling the discovery “deeply troubling.”
While LADWP doesn’t comment on pending litigation, the agency had previously said it was required to pull the massive reservoir offline “to meet safe drinking water regulations,” ABC News reported.
The utility has also blamed “unprecedented and extreme water demand to fight the wildfire without aerial support,” according to USA Today.
The head of the LADWP, Janisse Quiñones said 3 million gallons of water were accessible when the Palisades fire erupted on Jan.7, but demand was four times greater than ever seen, considering the hydrants are designed to fight only one or two houses at a time.
The lawsuit was filed by residents and others affected by the fire.
The Palisades blaze has ripped through more than 23,000 acres and is responsible for at least eight of the 25 deaths from the infernos. It’s the largest of the multiple infernos that have burned the region over the last week.
“Had the LADWP acted responsibly, the damage caused by the Palisades Fire could have been greatly reduced,” the complaint said, according to the USA Today
With Post wires
