Palisades Has 3 1-Million Gallon Water Towers; After 15 Hours At 4X Demand, They

[Texacon]

https://democraticunderground.com/100219887104


Yup, see, not California's fault at all.  Nope, just climate change.  Yet ... when Texas was hit with some unprecedented extremely cold weather a few years ago and we lost power (mainly because the windmills they were wanting us to use froze!) the DUmmies were ALL OVER Abbott.  They walked all over Texas and how stupid we all are.

It sucks to suck.  These fires were preventable.  They have them every year, just ask Nadin! 

hatrack (61,283 posts)

Thu Jan 9, 2025, 08:08 AM

Palisades Has 3 1-Million Gallon Water Towers; After 15 Hours At 4X Demand, They Ran Dry
Ed. - Not a conspiracy, not incompetence, not an evil plot. Water demand at unprecedented levels because of a fire beyond anything the city of Los Angeles has seen before, plus the physics and time of pumping water uphill to fill the water system.

As firefighters battled three wildfires raging across Los Angeles in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the water tanks supplying Pacific Palisades – where the largest of the fires broke out – ran dry. Janisse Quiñones, chief engineer and CEO of the Los Angeles department of water and power, told reporters that by 3am Wednesday, the three 1m-gallon tanks serving the Palisades had been depleted.

“We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the extreme,” Quiñones said during an early Wednesday morning press conference. “Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”

Although all 114 water tanks serving the city of Los Angeles were completely filled before the fire, water use in the Palisades caused the first of three tanks to run dry at 4.45pm on Tuesday, followed by the second at 8.30pm and the third at 3am Wednesday. As those tanks – located in the high-elevation Palisades – emptied, it became more difficult to refill them from lower-elevation reserves.

Emphasis added.

“Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants in the hills of Palisades,” Quiñones said. “Because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line, and so much water was being used before it [went] to the tanks, we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough. So the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in our trunk line.”

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/08/los-angeles-palisade-fire-water-tanks-empty

pfitz59 (11,037 posts)

1. Physics and mechanics

Laws of nature, not man. MAGA nuts will never get it. They are screaming about 'negligence, incompetence, over regulation'. OK, so tax those mega rich residents and build better water systems. Oops, easier to play the blame game than actually identify and fix the problem.

wcollar (198 posts)

4. Normal Design

I work for a civil engineering firm that specializes in water systems. That is a standard design. It was set up with reserves.that would cover “typical emergencies”. What they faced was not something they could have imagined when the system was designed.

Welcome to a whole new world! With climate change we’re only going to see more of this…

Oh well, figure it out or burn again next year I guess.

KC

[DefiantSix]

You know what, DUmp'Rat? Most SANE states build dams and store water in reservoirs specifically for the purposes of fighting wildfires.

Too bad your leftist run shithole is riddled with utterly incompetent watermelons in its corrupt little regime of a government...   

[DUmpDiver]

Nobody could've ever predicted this - except for Donald Trump who pointed it out to Newscum back in 2017.

[SVPete]

hatrack (61,283 posts)

Thu Jan 9, 2025, 08:08 AM

Palisades Has 3 1-Million Gallon Water Towers; After 15 Hours At 4X Demand, They Ran Dry
Ed. - Not a conspiracy, not incompetence, not an evil plot. ...

Bzzzzt! Wrong! 3 million gallons of water was clearly insufficient. And while LA County's other fire department water storage had been topped off, LA Country's pumping capacity was insufficient to raise replenishing water the couple thousand feet to Pacific Palisades fast enough. That was definitely incompetence and lack of foresight.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Nobody could've ever predicted this - except for Donald Trump who pointed it out to Newscum back in 2017.

 

And this passage in the DUmmy diatribe caught my eye:

pfitz59 (11,037 posts)

1. Physics and mechanics

Laws of nature, not man. MAGA nuts will never get it. They are screaming about 'negligence, incompetence, over regulation'. OK, so tax those mega rich residents and build better water systems. Oops, easier to play the blame game than actually identify and fix the problem.

California is by many metrics the highest taxed state, along with NY, NJ, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

[Old n Grumpy]

Palisades Has 3 1-Million Gallon Water Towers; After 15 Hours At 4X Demand, They Ran Dry

So the logical conclusion is that they aren’t enough and they need significantly more of them.

[Texacon]

So the logical conclusion is that they aren’t enough and they need significantly more of them.

A 1MM gallon tank isn’t that large. Building tanks is what I do for a living. And I know what it takes to fill them. Most that I build these days are oil, gas, and chemical tanks, but they’re all the same.

KC

[CollectivismMustDie]

Yes, democrats.

YOU built THAT.

[SVPete]

The fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena started in Federal lands - a national forest and a national recreation area. Trump needs to clean out the morons in the Department of the Interior as well as in DOJ. Brush rake training time!

[Texacon]

Yes. California needs to tell the eco morons to sit down, shut up, and hold on!  They are literally getting people killed.

It’s time to tell these people to shut up and let the real experts do what they do.

I’m with Trump. Until California straightens out their bullshit they don’t deserve federal dollars.

This wasn’t a tornado. It wasn’t a hurricane. It wasn’t an earthquake. It was fire. Absolutely preventable.

KC

[zeitgeist]

And then there is this genius move (possibly the result of loose crime prosecutions):

https://www.foxla.com/video/1465546

Fire hydrants?  Meh, who needs 'em. 

[SVPete]

I’m with Trump. Until California straightens out their bullshit they don’t deserve federal dollars.

This wasn’t a tornado. It wasn’t a hurricane. It wasn’t an earthquake. It was fire. Absolutely preventable.

Pacific Palisades and Altadena are adjacent to Federal lands. The failure/refusal to clear brush was by the Federal Department of the Interior (ditto the wildfire several years ago that wiped out the town of Paradise, CA, BTW). California does not lack "bullshit", but these are Federal failures.

Along with the DOJ, Trump needs to clean out the Augean Stables of the Department of the Interior.

[Crazy Horse]

Pacific Palisades and Altadena are adjacent to Federal lands. The failure/refusal to clear brush was by the Federal Department of the Interior (ditto the wildfire several years ago that wiped out the town of Paradise, CA, BTW). California does not lack "bullshit", but these are Federal failures.

Along with the DOJ, Trump needs to clean out the Augean Stables of the Department of the Interior.

Yet other states have the federal land maintained properly and don’t have this problem.  Maybe, just maybe the state of California and municipalities has more of this blame than just the feds.

[67 Rover]

JUST IN: The Pacific Palisades reservoir was EMPTY AND OFFLINE when the firestorm exploded, per LA Times

This is CRIMINAL.

The reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water, and would’ve given firefighters ample pressure to effectively fight the blaze.

Overpaid Dept. of Water and Power officials have now been forced to admit the reservoir being offline likely contributed to dry fire hydrants and low water pressure.

DEI did this.
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1877774871633264990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1877774871633264990%7Ctwgr%5Ec8ec54b66b8f2d85f19208b7477baaeabe4af98f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tigerdroppings.com%2Frant%2Fpolitics%2Fpacific-palisades-reservoir-was-empty-and-offline-when-the-firestorm-exploded-per-la-times%2F117070035%2F

Uh-Oh!  A measly 3 million gallons vs 118 million which was allowed to run dry. Care to comment Hatrack?

[jukin]

JUST IN: The Pacific Palisades reservoir was EMPTY AND OFFLINE when the firestorm exploded, per LA Times

This is CRIMINAL.

The reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water, and would’ve given firefighters ample pressure to effectively fight the blaze.

Overpaid Dept. of Water and Power officials have now been forced to admit the reservoir being offline likely contributed to dry fire hydrants and low water pressure.

DEI did this.
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1877774871633264990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1877774871633264990%7Ctwgr%5Ec8ec54b66b8f2d85f19208b7477baaeabe4af98f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tigerdroppings.com%2Frant%2Fpolitics%2Fpacific-palisades-reservoir-was-empty-and-offline-when-the-firestorm-exploded-per-la-times%2F117070035%2F

Uh-Oh!  A measly 3 million gallons vs 118 million which was allowed to run dry. Care to comment Hatrack?

Beat me to it Rover! once again DUmbass DUchebags are DUmb and proud to DUmbinstrate that fact.

[SVPete]

Just posted an LAT article (no paywall) about that storage reservoir (it isn't on the Santa Ynez River, which is a county or two north of Pacific Palisades). It has a picture showing it empty that is dated September 2022.

   IOW, 2 or 3 years ago the County (or City) of Los Angeles took "offline" (= emptied) a water storage reservoir that was ~40X the capacity of the water towers and did not think that might cause a problem.  

[SVPete]

Yet other states have the federal land maintained properly and don’t have this problem.  Maybe, just maybe the state of California and municipalities has more of this blame than just the feds.

Other states, "don’t have this problem"? Really? Texas A&M Forest Service is lying in this webpage showing that the State of Texas averages on the order of 9,000 or 10,000 wildfires a year, with some years as high as 20,000 or 30,000, https://fire-information-tfsgis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/historical-fire-statistics ? Idaho hasn't had more than 10 wildfires in just the past 3 months, https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/accessible-view ? The State of Florida doesn't have several wildfires a year.

[Rebel]

You know what, DUmp'Rat? Most SANE states build dams and store water in reservoirs specifically for the purposes of fighting wildfires.

Insane states tear down 4 dams, depleting 4 reservoirs. That's what Newscum did.

[Rebel]

hatrack (61,283 posts)

Palisades Has 3 1-Million Gallon Water Towers; After 15 Hours At 4X Demand, They Ran Dry
Ed. - Not a conspiracy, not incompetence, not an evil plot. Water demand at unprecedented levels because of a fire beyond anything the city of Los Angeles has seen before, plus the physics and time of pumping water uphill to fill the water system.

You really are a fkn idiot. 3 million gallons of water? And you don't see that as negligence? How about this, dipshit:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline

117 MILLION gallons of water........had it been online and full.

[SVPete]

That storage reservoir was used to provide potable water as well as other purposes. It had a cover to keep stuff out that would make the water unsuitable for drinking, but it was damaged in some way. So, the storage reservoir was drained so as to repair the cover. if the caption for a photo published by the LA Times is correct, it was empty in September 2022, nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

I get that something that large is not repaired or replaced in a few hours or days, but 2 or 3 years (I have not seen a start date for the repair project)? And in those 2 or 3 years no one in LA Fire Department thought, "Oh bleep! That 3 million gallons is way too little for more than a simple 1 or 3 house fire"?!!! And no FD official thought to ask how quickly the water in one of those 1M gallon tanks could be replenished by exiting pumps?

[Crazy Horse]

Other states, "don’t have this problem"? Really? Texas A&M Forest Service is lying in this webpage showing that the State of Texas averages on the order of 9,000 or 10,000 wildfires a year, with some years as high as 20,000 or 30,000, https://fire-information-tfsgis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/historical-fire-statistics ? Idaho hasn't had more than 10 wildfires in just the past 3 months, https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/accessible-view ? The State of Florida doesn't have several wildfires a year.

Never said other states don’t have fires, just saying they don’t have the same problems of the Feds maintaining the forest. All state have forest fires, thanks for pointing that out. 

The empty reservoir is criminal and should be prosecuted. Unfortunately all of those accountable for the failures will end up with awards

[67 Rover]

Never said other states don’t have fires, just saying they don’t have the same problems of the Feds maintaining the forest. All state have forest fires, thanks for pointing that out. 

The empty reservoir is criminal and should be prosecuted. Unfortunately all of those accountable for the failures will end up with awards

Perhaps a Medal of Freedom as a nice parting gift along with a years supply of Rice-a-roni

[jukin]

I saw that if you look at goolog earth the Santa Ynez reservoir had been shut down and dry since the early 2010s.

Oops, oopsie. Give the donkey DEI government more money and they will fix it they swearsy!

[Texacon]

I just heard that Oregon was sending something like 30 fire trucks to LA to help fight the fires and they were stopped after entering California until all the trucks could get their emissions checked.

Anyone know if this is true?

KC

[Crazy Horse]

I just heard that Oregon was sending something like 30 fire trucks to LA to help fight the fires and they were stopped after entering California until all the trucks could get their emissions checked.

Anyone know if this is true?

KC

Seems they were inspected and repaired to be in top operating condition before deploying. They were not emission or SMOG checked.