Water tanks and fire hydrants have run dry because of the immense demand of the fast-moving Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles, according to a media report.
"We have three large water tanks, about a million gallons each. We ran out of water in the first tank at about 4:45 PM (local) yesterday. We ran out of water in the second tank about 8:30 PM and the third tank about 3:00 AM this morning," Janisse Quinones, chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said at a news conference Wednesday.
Despite refilling efforts, she noted, "it just cannot get up the hill because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough."
According to an NBC news report, experts, including Newsha Ajami of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, highlighted the growing strain on infrastructure.
"These systems are not designed to deal with these disasters at the magnitude and scale and the frequency that's happening," Ajami said.
Erik Porse, from the California Institute for Water Resources, added that urban water systems are made to fight house fires, not widespread blazes.
Meanwhile, Quinones urged residents to conserve water.
"I need our customers to really conserve water, not just in the Palisade area, but the whole system, because the fire department needs the water to fight the fires."
