Fires continue to rage in and around Los Angeles as gusty Santa Ana winds drive fires through brush and into surrounding areas. Two major fires, Eton Fire And Palisades FireBurned together About 40,000 acres Another fire called auto fire broke out on Monday evening from last week Ventura County. there is a fire Killed at least 24 people.
The wildfire’s extraordinary scale and speed overwhelmed responders, even in a region with a long history of fighting wildfires. That was evident last week when firefighters worked to contain the Palisades fire when they saw something Fire hydrants around Pacific Palisades are dry.
D The Los Angeles Times reported The 114 water tanks supplying the city were full before the fire started But when the fire broke out, firefighters were using so much water for so long, faster than the tanks could be refilled. This makes it difficult to keep water flowing, especially at high altitudes.
“For 15 hours straight we saw four times normal demand, which reduced our water pressure,” Janice Quiones, CEO and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told the Los Angeles Times.
Water, however, has always been a political issue in Los Angeles. The region has struggled with water scarcity since its inception, but still faces Massive flooding during heavy rains. City officials and local politicians were quick Criticize the city’s underinvestment In its water infrastructure.
However, the fire has become another reason to deal with a long list of complaints with California’s water decisions: Dam takingno Construction of adequate reservoirsProtect a small fish. It is important to understand that factors have little relevance to the ongoing fire response. “I think some of the conversations are so unrelated to fire hydrants in L.A. that it’s hard to know where to start,” said Faith Kearns, a water and wildfire researcher at Arizona State University’s Global Futures Laboratory.
Still, California faces threats to its water infrastructure that will only intensify once the flames die down. The fires are already degrading drinking water in affected areas and will continue to hamper recovery. And with climate change, water pressure on the state is increasing, along with the growing threat of larger fires in the future.
Why water is not always helpful in fires
The ongoing wildfires around Los Angeles are challenging for several reasons. A big one was that the weather was uncooperative, with strong winds blowing for miles across an area that is unusually dry. Those embers are landing on a bumper crop of plants, fueled by a sequence of intense rainfall, record-breaking heat and a dry start to last year’s winter.
Another big reason is that wildfires are burning in both wildland and urban areas. Firefighters use different techniques depending on the environment. For a structure fire in a city or suburb, the typical response involves firehose, pump trucks and lots of water.
But the tools of choice in chaparral, grass and trees are shovels, axes, drip torches and bulldozers. The key strategy is not necessarily to extinguish fires but to contain them by breaking down the fire, denying the fire fuel. Airplanes that drop water and flame retardants can help flank areas and blazes attack nearby areas, but there aren’t enough of them to contain fire fronts that span miles, while smoke and high winds can often make it too dangerous to fly.
When recent wildfires reached built-up environments around Los Angeles, they erupted as winds gusted to 100 miles per hour, creating a catastrophe that more closely resembled a hurricane than a house fire. Dozens of buildings across the county burned at once, leaving urban firefighters facing wildfires that advanced like wildfires. Couldn’t keep their tools and techniques right. More than that So far 12 thousand buildings have been burnt on fire
“Our traditional urban water infrastructure and supply is basically not designed to fight fires like this,” Cairns said. “It was designed to fire a single house or a few structures, not thousands of houses during really high winds.”
A more pressing limitation is a Lack of manpower To deal with the scale of the fire, especially responders are trained to contain hell in such difficult conditions. Firefighters from across the state, across the country, even from Canada and Mexico are now assisting With feedback. There is also California Deployment of prison inmates To help control the fire.
“LA County, and all 29 fire departments in our county, are not prepared for this type of massive disaster,” LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at the time. press conference Last week “LA County did not have enough firefighters to deal with four separate wildfires of this magnitude. … The LA County Fire Department was prepared for one or two large brush fires, but not four, especially with this steady wind and low humidity.
California’s fire and water challenges are getting tougher
Raging infernos are likely to cause lasting problems for the region’s water supply Kearns co-authored a 2021 report It found that several large wildfires in California have contaminated drinking water.
There are several mechanisms for this. Kearns explains that when Water pressure decreases In municipal water supplies like the one in Los Angeles last week, untreated wastewater can flow back into the mains. This means pathogens and other contaminants can enter the water line. Several communities in Los Angeles County have issued advisories to residents Do not drink tap water.
Ash from wildfires can also enter surface water supplies such as reservoirs and aquifers. That ash may contain toxic chemicals. Some flame retardants used to contain the fire may also allow it Hazardous substances such as benzene enter the water supply.
A fire can melt PVC plumbing, which can leach chronic contaminants into the water. Weather conditions have been exceptionally dry so far, but when the rain starts, it can wash fire debris into water systems, stressing water treatment plants.
Southern California and the state as a whole also face water shortages in the coming years.
California’s notorious housing shortage Pushing more people to live in areas that can burn. By a guess, would 645,000 new homes were built Rated as “Very High” wildfire severity zone by 2050 More people living in wildfire-prone areas increases the likelihood of wildfires starting and increases the damage caused when those wildfires do inevitably burn.
On top of that, California is facing long-term changes in its climate that are poised to expand and worsen wildfire risk while increasing water scarcity. Average temperature is increasing As a result, trees and shrubs wither and ignite more easily.
Thomas HarterDavis, a University of California professor studying water infrastructure, says the state has moved between wet years and dry years in equal measure for most of its history.
But now, the oscillations between rainfall and drought are becoming more aggressive. Climate change is driving greater swings between periods of intense rainfall and drought, a phenomenon called “Whiplash” This often means there is too much water to store during wet spells and not enough to go around during dry spells.
And since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of dry years has begun to exceed the number of wet years, and dry years are getting drier.
Additionally, as average temperatures rise, evaporation from surface water stores increases and more evaporation from vegetation occurs, meaning trees, grasses, and shrubs retain less water.
The amount of water in California’s reservoirs varies from year to year with precipitation and now Most of them are at or above the level Which is typical for this time of year.
The compounding effects of climate change on California’s waters are even more evident underground. The state has more dry years than wet years Thirsty agriculture sector Draws on groundwater when surface supplies are low. Groundwater stores recharge slowly over thousands of years, so as aridity increases, they are creating deficits.
The result is that California cannot close its way out of water shortages and will have to make some tough decisions about who will use the water. “We have to dial back the amount of water we’re using, there’s no two ways about it,” Harter said.
Even if California builds more reservoirs, they won’t be enough to deal with its growing wildfire problem. “The water is expensive to get there, expensive to distribute, expensive to prevent and store these to submerge [fire] events,” Harter said. “The difference is very small in terms of what can be achieved.” It’s also important to remember that fires are a natural part of ecosystems across California, so trying to eliminate them completely can create more problems, such as fuel build-up at very high levels. to let
Reducing the threat from wildfires instead requires some approach that will take time, cost money and create new political friction points. These include controlled burning to reduce fuel loads, building codes that require more fire-resistant materials, limiting where people can live in the first place, properly pricing insurance policies, and curbing humanity’s output of heat-trapping gases.
