Why Using Seawater to Put Out the Fires Was Not an Option
Fires in the Los Angeles area continued Sunday, January 12, having already killed 16 people and destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, and structures. It is uncertain when the nightmare will be over. The weather forecast is for winds and low humidity, and the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning through Wednesday, meaning that conditions could lead to extreme fire in the country’s largest county by population. Fire had consumed 62 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco.
Many questions were raised while the disaster continued, such as why fire hydrants ran out of water where the two largest fires burned in the Pacific Palisades and to the east in Altadena.
One explanation was that there was such a high demand for water that the systems ran out. They were built to fight a fire in a single home or block, not entire neighborhoods engulfed by flames.
An official with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DPW) told the Washington Post that water storage tanks that supplied hydrants were filled before the blaze, but the demand for water quadrupled in the area, lowering pressure needed to replenish the tanks.
Marty Adams, a former official with DPW said that systems have never been designed expecting that an entire neighborhood would go up in flames, adding that such infrastructure would be overbuilt and too expensive. Greg Pierce, a water-resource expert at UCLA, told CNN that he did not know of a water system in the world that is prepared for this type of event.
There were problems even when resources were in place to knock down a fire. The Atlantic explained that when one firefighting team tried to douse flames coming from a house, the wind was so strong it blew the water in another direction. At times, the wind was too strong to use planes and helicopters.
Seawater was not used to put out the fires, although some planes did use it in spots. Generally, saltwater is too corrosive to firefighting equipment and can have damaging effects on ecosystems that last years after a blaze is extinguished.
The viewpoint expressed by some, including the incoming president, that the problem was caused by California’s failure to send water from the north of the state to the south, was quickly dispatched. Mark Gold, a member of the board of the Metropolitan Water District, told CBS News that it has a record amount of water stored and that the firefighting issues have nothing to do with that.
Climate Whiplash of "Bloom and Burn Cycles" Leads to Wildfires
For climate researchers, the horrific fires in California are no surprise. They even have a name for the conditions that set the scene. It’s called “hydroclimate whiplash,” where there are rapid swings between intensely wet and dangerously dry weather—and it’s increasing because of global warming.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, who coincidentally released a new paper in the journal Nature Reviews last week on hydroclimate whiplash, warned about the threat of fires in Southern California on January 6, the day before they erupted, with the largest blaze igniting in the Pacific Palisades. He said that severe Santa Ana winds, (which are common to the region and not affected by climate change in his view), combined with drought, were going to create dangerous conditions. Swain told Outside magazine that warnings by him and other climate scientists led to preemptive positioning of aircraft and fire crews.
The whiplash began in the winter of 2022-23, when Southern California experienced a series of atmospheric rivers, which not only brought record-breaking precipitation and floods but also fueled massive growth of grass and brush. That vegetation dried out during record heat in 2024 and became dry tinder for the explosive fires occurring now.
The whipsawing between floods and droughts causes a “bloom-and-burn cycle,” where fast-growing brush then dries out and burns, which causes landslides because there are no root systems to bind the soil in place and take up rainfall. Swain says every fraction of a degree of warming speeds up the destructive pattern.
A key driver of the whiplash, Swain says, is the “expanding atmospheric sponge”—the growing ability of the atmosphere to hold more water for every degree Celsius that the planet warms. A thirstier atmosphere pulls more water out of plants and soil, exacerbating drought conditions beyond a simple lack of rain.
The new research found that hydroclimate whiplash has risen globally by 31 percent to 66 percent since the mid-20th century.
Urban Drinking Water Systems Are Not Designed for Wildfires
Many people in the Los Angeles area are under water alerts from boil advisories to more stern warnings.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the nation’s largest municipal utility, issued a DO NOT DRINK NOTICE to anyone in the Pacific Palisades area under evacuation orders. The notice was due to the potential of fire-related contaminants, including benzene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that may have entered the water system. The utility is distributing bottled water to affected customers at two distribution sites.
For those living near the evacuation area, officials advise to use only boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes, due to low water pressure as crews respond to the fire. LADWP is working to re-pressurize the system but will need to conduct water quality tests before it’s safe to drink.
Unsafe water alerts were also issued by Pasadena Water and Power for areas near the Eaton Fire in Altadena, as the firefighting efforts there have resulted in low water pressure and debris entering the supply. No one returning to the evacuated area should drink tap water until further notice. Residents should not try to treat the water themselves by boiling, freezing, filtering, or adding disinfectants, as none of these steps will work.
Writing in The Conversation, Andrew Whelton, from Purdue University says it’s important to understand that urban water systems are not designed to fight wildfires. The intense heat can melt plastic pipes and water meters, releasing chemicals. Soot, smoke, and burned material can be sucked into open hydrants and storage tanks, and breaks in the water pipes can introduce contamination.
Chemicals in Wildfire Smoke Can Contaminate Houses that Survive Fires
Air quality in Southern California has been affected by smoke from the fires. Health alerts were issued and schools closed. Officials were advising people to use N95 masks or a proper respirator if they must be outside.
Wildfire smoke can be dangerous, more so than just ordinary pollution, because it carries poisonous gases and particulates from burned buildings, electronics, and vehicles with plastics and fuels. Air quality indexes in Los Angeles, measuring health risks, ranged from good to unhealthy, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The New York Times reported that the winds in the Los Angeles area blew some of the smoke out toward the ocean, which is different from the wildfires in Canada in 2023 that led to smoke drifting over regions hundreds of miles away.
A study published last month led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder showed that smoke and ash from a wildfire containing a mixture of volatile organic compounds that blew into homes still standing could stick to furniture, rugs, and walls for months.