It blew my mind to hear that there was no water coming out of the fire hydrants during the Palisades fire this week. I know California is mismanaged, but that's simply insane. Others have dealt with the horrors elsewhere, what I want to explore is how the Elites that run California do not, as I have ranted many times on this blog, know how anything works.
First, here's a staggering video from the LAFD.
LAFD Assistant Chief Kristine Larson:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 9, 2025
"Am I able to carry your husband out of a fire? He got himself in the wrong place." pic.twitter.com/BofTVr6dWP
If she can't carry your husband out of a burning building, that's his problem? And on what planet do I want to see someone responding to my emergency that looks like me? This is DEI and Social Justice taken to it's logical extreme. Projected feelings of various marginalized groups who don't actually have those feelings trump performance.
Meanwhile, the mayor of LA directed citizens to URL if they need information. No, really.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tells residents that if they need emergency help or shelter it “can be found at URL.”
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 9, 2025
What?!
This is the perfect picture of the incredible levels of incompetence ravaging Los Angeles right now. pic.twitter.com/Hbsu9fERbw
Wow. Luckily, the LA fire chief likes to eat carpet, so we have that going for us.
Not everyone is incompetent, however. Sal Mercogliano, the guy who runs the outstanding What's Going On With Shipping YouTube channel, posted this on X, explaining why some of the hydrants ran out of water.
One needs to understand that water towers are typically filled during low water usage periods (largely at night). The filling line is substantially smaller than the discharge.
Pressure on the hydrants and to homes (which is the same line) is caused by the weight & gravity of the water.
As homes are burned, all the water connections to the home are opened (sinks, toilets, washers, etc). So you start draining water as you lose each house.
You eventually get to the point where you can sustain the system and run out of water.
What is needed is a way to shut the towers off from the primary system and have a secondary fire system that is routed to several strategically located fill points for fire apparatus.
You can then fill the tanks and have water for suppression.
But that cost $$$$.
Of course, Sal does not work for the government of California. They would no doubt despise him as he's one of those dirty, little people who worked with their hands.
Having acknowledged that trade-offs have to be made in the design of the water system and allowing others to go nonlinear about the horrific performance of the progs who run CA, I'd conclude with the following.
If you aren't going to provide water, for whatever reason, you simply must keep the fires from starting in the first place. That means aggressive maintenance of the scrub brush. You cannot allow the fuel to build up, no matter how many Schlumberg's Reticulated Voles are killed in the process. If you aren't going to provide water and you don't ruthlessly remove the kindling from the area, you're going to get what we've seen this week - parts of Los Angeles burned to the ground.
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