After fires destroyed nearly 500 homes in Bel Air and Brentwood in 1961, Los Angeles took a hard look at firefighting.
By 1964, city leaders had added 13 fire departments, planned fire hydrants, purchased helicopters, and sent more personnel to the Santa Monica Mountains. To accommodate growth in the Pacific Palisades, they built a reservoir in Santa Ynez Canyon and also built a pumping station “for added fire protection,” said Los Angeles Department of Water and Power chief at the time. Water engineer Gerald W. Jones told The News. Around 1972.
Some Palisades residents initially objected to the reservoir’s proximity, fearing a repeat of the 1963 Baldwin Hills disaster, when the reservoir burst, killing five people and destroying about 280 homes. .
In this 1970 photo, Department of Water and Power engineers Gerald W. Jones and William J. Simon watch the Santa Ynez Reservoir in the Pacific Palisades fill with water.
(George R. Fry)
In the decades since then, Santa Ynez Reservoir has been a source of solace.
“I always said, ‘Hey, the one thing that’s never going to happen is that our house burns down,'” he said in 1978, when he built the Palisades, a stone’s throw from the reservoir. said Peggy Holter, who bought a Highland townhouse. . “That was the one thing I was never worried about.”
But on Jan. 7, a rapidly spreading wildfire amid dangerously high winds emptied the reservoir that had long been a lifeline for Palisades residents, just when they needed it most.
“If there was a reservoir there and they could have sucked the water out of there, I think our building would have been saved,” said Holter, who lived in a 36-unit apartment complex. Holter’s townhouse and other buildings in the complex survived the first night of the fire, but were later gutted as water pressure in the area dropped. “There’s nothing left.”
The 117 million gallon reservoir being shut down for repairs has sparked outrage at DWP and its leadership, prompted at least two lawsuits and prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to order an investigation. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also pledged to fully evaluate the city’s response to the wildfires that destroyed at least 6,380 structures and killed at least 11 people.
The reservoir remains empty, and DWP’s water operations director told the Times that repairs would not be made until April or May.
The episode prompted urgent questions from residents and city leaders: “Why has the reservoir been empty for nearly a year?”
The story dates back to January 2024, when DWP property managers discovered cracks in the reservoir’s floating lid after a series of storms, according to internal emails reviewed by the Times.
The reservoir sat uncovered for decades until the city installed a large floating membrane in 2012 to comply with federal regulations. The cover is intended to prevent contamination of the water by animals and debris and to limit the growth of algae and bacteria.
When the property manager looked at the tear again two days later, it appeared to be even larger, according to the email.
At the time, the reservoir held approximately 56 million gallons of water, less than half its capacity.
According to the reservoir’s maintenance manual, DWP policy calls for minor repairs to the cover to be made “within 48 hours of discovery.” However, the manual states that large-scale repairs require “specialized skills” and must be outsourced.
It is unclear how the DWP initially assessed the breach, but in any case the manual reflects the urgency to “make repairs as soon as possible as directed by engineers”.
DWP had a restoration plan in place by late January, with a target date of returning the reservoir by April 2024, before “high demand” in late spring and summer, according to the email.
Santa Ynez Reservoir in Palisades Highlands, photographed just before 1 p.m. on January 7th
(David Hansen)
There was one problem. Empty the reservoir took a long time and posed a significant erosion risk if large amounts of water were allowed to flow into drains and streams after continuous rain, the email said. Instead, DWP officials had hoped to keep the reservoir open despite the rift and let residents use 20 million gallons before draining the rest.
State officials appear reluctant to do so, according to emails.
A state Water Quality Department engineer said his team “does not support reopening the Santa Ynez Reservoir in late January 2024,” according to an email summarizing the conference call from DWP regulatory officials. ” he said.
“Their decision was clearly not based on the sampling results provided earlier today, which demonstrated that the samples collected yesterday did not contain the bacteria,” DWP officials wrote.
Around that time, DWP began draining water from the reservoir. This process may take up to 2 months. In April, the utility solicited bids to repair the cover at a cost of $89,000.
Only one company, Layfield Group, which installed the cover in 2012, made a bid, and the contract was closed on Nov. 21 for about $130,000.
During the months that the reservoir was empty, its absence went largely unnoticed. Residents still have water to take showers and fill their pools, the city’s extensive water system supplies the area with plenty of water, and helicopters have landed at the reservoir’s helipad to fill the water supply. Water could also be refilled through a connecting device connected to the system.
DWP did not provide details on the schedule, but said in a statement that the repairs “are subject to a lengthy City Charter competitive bidding process.” ”
On Tuesday, DWP CEO Janice Quiñones was scheduled to publicly address the utility’s response to the wildfires at a meeting of the Los Angeles City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee.
However, Quiñones’ presentation appears to have been blocked by Siti Atty. Heidi Feldstein Soto.
“Given the multiple lawsuits filed against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in connection with the Palisades wildfire, the City Attorney argued that: [Quiñones] Please do not participate today,” the committee chair, City Councilmember Adlin Nazarian, said Tuesday afternoon.
Nazarian said Quiñones could instead answer questions from city council members during Wednesday’s closed session, which focused on one of the lawsuits filed over the Palisades fire.
A spokesperson for Feldstein Soto did not respond to a request for comment.
More residents in the Upper Palisades are considering lawsuits, according to multiple interviews, but it’s unclear whether the reservoir has made a meaningful difference in firefighters’ ability to fight the fires. Water system experts say the Palisades fires are impossible to control because of Santa Ana’s extreme winds, which prevent the use of planes and helicopters, and the city’s water system is unable to respond to such fires. He said the facilities were not adequate.
Meanwhile, Palisades residents are reflecting on a long and expensive rebuilding process.
Hunter Simon, who lived with his family about 600 feet from the reservoir, believes his home would not have burned down if the reservoir had been filled with water. In previous fires, proximity was a boon, even when the flames weren’t nearby, with helicopters accidentally dropping water on his property.
“You never evacuate because you really think you’re saying goodbye to something,” Simon said.
Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
Source link
