That's because firefighters found themselves without the ability to use fire hydrants in town due to issues with the infrastructure.
"The utilities, understandably, shut off power because they were worried the lines that carry energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires," President Joe Biden said at a Thursday briefing. "But when it did that, it cut off the ability to pump the water."
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says windy conditions only exacerbated this issue.
"Fire hydrants are not constructed to deal with this type of massive devastation," Bass said. "And the number one problem, especially on Wednesday, was the fact that we weren't able to do the air support because of the winds."
No air support meant immense pressure on the hydrant system - which simply was not designed for the volume of fire we're seeing in Los Angeles.
San Francisco Fire Rescue Captain Justin Schorr broke it down in the easiest way to understand:
- If you turn on all the faucets in your home, you lose water pressure.
- If your neighbors do the same, you all lose pressure.
- Now, imagine the amount of hydrants running as homes go up in flames.
Captain Schorr says it's an impossible task.
"They're all based on volume and pressure," Schorr said. "The more hydrants that are open and the more water volume that comes out, the lower the pressure drops. The systems are usually designed for one or two homes or buildings to be needing a fire hydrant at a time. We have entire neighborhoods that are in need."
We saw a similar situation in 2002 in San Jose.
A fire at Santana Row hit 11 alarms and became the worst in city history. There, hydrants struggled to keep up with demand as well.
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That fire, as well as those in LA are both examples of why San Jose Water prioritizes millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades.
"You need the hardware in place," San Jose Water VP of Regulatory Affairs John Tang said. "Obviously, you need the water mains and the fire hydrants, but you also need the water supply. You need both sides of that in order to deliver on that protection."
The CPUC approved $450 million more in increased water system investments in the next four years in San Jose.
It will be reflected in customer bills, but San Jose Water says it's easy to see how important good infrastructure is when terrible situations happen.