Why are so many fire hydrants in Los Angeles running out of water?

While many fires broke out across Los Angeles, California on January 7, attention quickly turned to another factor: water. Within 7 hours after the Palisades fire appeared on the west coast of the country, Janisse Quiñones, executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said one of three tanks stored millions of liters of water to pour into fire hydrants. in residential areas has dried up. The next tank ran out of water the same night and the last tank was empty early in the morning of January 8.

As the Sun rose amid the smoke, information about broken and drained fire hydrants outside burning houses spread across social networks, raising many theories about the incident. But experts say the problem does not stem from one problem. Instead, this was the predictable result of a system that was never ready for the climate-driven fires we are facing today in urban areas.

Over the past decade, California has experienced unprecedented drought conditions that have resulted in water restrictions. Although two rainy winters have helped ease the situation in Southern California, 2025 promises to be a record dry year. Climate scientist Daniel Swain likens the fluctuations between rain and extreme drought to “hydroclimatic fluctuations”. According to his research, this phenomenon is becoming increasingly serious due to global warming.

The fluctuating rain cycle creates especially dangerous conditions for fires, but it has helped California’s previously dwindling water reserves fill up in recent months. Although drought is a persistent problem in Southern California, this is not the cause of Los Angeles’s water shortage. It’s also not the fault of the endangered smelt, a small protected fish often associated with water use restrictions in its habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Instead, Quiñones explains it is a matter of access. In the approximately 15 hours since the Palisades fire broke out and available water tanks were depleted, water demand increased four times as much as usual, causing water pressure to drop, making it difficult to achieve the necessary force to push the water. into elevated tanks, especially at speeds suitable for handling fires spreading five football fields per minute, fueled by Santa Ana winds. “We pushed the system to the limit. We were dealing with a wildfire using a municipal water system. That was a really big challenge,” Quiñones shared.

Understanding the impact of wildfires on water systems is a relatively new area of ​​research, especially in urban areas like Los Angeles, according to Faith Kearns, a wildfire and water expert at the University of Arizona. Kearns co-authored a 2021 brief on the issue, focused on California and inspired by events like the 2017 Tubbs fire that reached Santa Rosa.

While the problem of skyrocketing water demand that Quiñones mentioned is one aspect of the problem, Kearns said many problems contribute to water shortages when and where water is needed. The lack of fire hydrants became a serious problem because the winds were so strong that they prevented helicopters from hovering overhead and spraying water down. Similar challenges hindered firefighters tackling a wildfire in Lahaina, Maui in 2023. The fires could also cause power outages or destroy water pipes and other infrastructure, creating additional problems.

The Palisades fire was especially difficult for firefighters to control, being the most damaging fire in Los Angeles County. Access to water is not only an issue during firefighting but also during the recovery phase. Many areas in Los Angeles are advised to store boiling water due to concerns that supplies become contaminated during periods of low pressure, which could allow ash to seep into the system. After the fire is extinguished, pipes and pumps need to be assessed for damage.