After flames leveled nearly homes in Bel-Air and Brentwood in , Los Angeles had a reckoning over firefighting. By , city leaders had added 13 fire stations, mapped out fire hydrants, purchased helicopters and dispatched more crews to the Santa Monica Mountains.
Jones, told The Times in Some Palisades residents had initially fought having a reservoir so close, fearing a repeat of the Baldwin Hills disaster when a reservoir failed, killing five people and destroying about homes.
But on Jan. That the million-gallon reservoir was off line for repairs sparked outrage against the DWP and its leadership , prompting at least two lawsuits and spurring Gov. Gavin Newsom to order an investigation. A reservoir in the Palisades that holds million gallons of water was offline this month for previously scheduled maintenance. The episode has drawn an urgent question from residents and city leaders: Why was the reservoir empty for nearly a year?
For decades, the reservoir sat uncovered until the city in installed a large floating membrane to comply with federal regulations. The cover is meant to prevent animals and debris from contaminating the water and to limit algae and bacteria. When fire hydrants ran dry, the L. Department of Water and Power struggled to get water where needed. When a property manager saw the tear again two days later, it seemed to have grown, according to the emails.
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There was one hitch: Emptying the reservoir was time-consuming, and sending that much water down a drain and creek after back-to-back rains risked significant erosion, according to emails.
