Los Angeles reservoirs filled before blazes, except for one needing repairs | Fact check
The claim: Los Angeles officials ‘refused to fill’ water reservoirs before fires
A Jan. 8 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the devastating Los Angeles fires in January 2025 were able to spread in part because of intentionally poor water management.
“Reports are saying the city of Los Angeles refused to fill the water reservoirs, so there’s no water in the fire hydrants to fight the fires,” the post reads.
The post was shared nearly 800 times in two weeks.
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Our rating: False
One reservoir operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was empty when the blazes began. But that was because it needed repairs to comply with water quality regulations, not any kind of refusal. The rest of the region’s reservoirs were filled, in some cases higher than average.
Repairs needed at empty reservoir
Much discussion has focused on firefighters’ access to water for battling the blazes in Los Angeles which have killed at least 28 people and damaged more than 15,000 structures since Jan. 7. Fire hydrants ran dry in Pacific Palisades, uphill from most of the city of Los Angeles.
While claims of mismanagement of the water system by local officials spread quickly amid the disaster, there was no effort by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to deliberately keep its reservoirs empty beyond one that was drained for repairs several months prior, according to a department website.
The 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir was drained in February 2024 because a floating cover installed in 2011 to comply with environmental regulations tore, making it possible for bird droppings and other contaminants to get into the water. Allowing that water to enter the city’s drinking water supply, the same supply drawn on for fire hydrants, would violate the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to Greg Pierce, director of the UCLA Water Resources Center.
“They had to drain it to comply with drinking water regulations,” Pierce said. “There’s a conversation we can have about maybe we shouldn’t be keeping all reservoirs up to those standards, that maybe not all need to have potable water, but then we have to have separate systems and build infrastructure for that, and that has cost implications that will need to be discussed.”
Still, there are questions about why Santa Ynez ended up offline for nearly a year. The agency pointed to a lengthy bidding process. A former LADWP head and union leader told the Los Angeles Times that if the Santa Ynez were operable, it could have provided a few hours of help, though likely would not have “saved the day.” The union official also said the delays caused by the bidding process may have been avoided if on-staff personnel had been used for the repairs instead of contractors. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an independent investigation into the matter.
Even if Santa Ynez had been online, officials said water was being taken out of the system to fight the fires far faster than it could be replaced. Janisse Quiñones, CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said in a Jan. 8 news conference that the system saw four times the typical demand for 15 straight hours and all three tanks supporting the fire hydrants were empty by around 3 a.m. Jan. 8.
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Pierce said the amount of water in reservoirs across southern California was “higher than normal,” a claim backed up by data on California’s largest reservoirs maintained by the state. (That database does not include figures on Santa Ynez.)
"No water system intentionally would not fill its reservoirs,” Pierce said. "Every system wants their reservoirs as full as possible at all times. Being completely full all the time is not possible.”
Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources
- Greg Pierce, Jan. 16, Phone interview with Paste BN
- Gavin Newsom, Jan. 10, Post on X
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, updated Jan. 31, 2013, Santa Ynez Reservoir Floating Cover Project
- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, accessed Jan. 1, Pacific Palisades Fire: Correcting Misinformation About LADWP’s Water System
- CBS News, Jan. 14, When L.A. fires broke out, the 117-million gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir near Pacific Palisades was empty. Here's what we know.
- County of Los Angeles ( YouTube), Jan. 8, LA County Windstorm and Wildfires Update
- California Data Exchange Center, Jan. 7, Major Water Supply Reservoirs
- Los Angeles Times, Jan. 10, State to probe why Pacific Palisades reservoir was offline, empty when firestorm exploded
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