Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass denied that water tanks in the city had run out of water as she defended herself from backlash over the city's fire-fighting efforts.
The Democrat said during a press conference on Wednesday that 'Claims that the tanks weren't full are false,' as she blamed online misinformation for widespread frustration after fire hydrants in the city ran out of water.
'Water remains available in the Palisades through hydrants, but also through water tankers that have been deployed,' Bass claimed.
'Claims that the tanks weren't full are false..... and just let me say that when you have events like this, where emotions are high it's easy to get caught up in information that is not accurate.
'I think most of us know that the Internet is not always the best place to get accurate information...'
But Bass was accused of deploying sleight of hand to minimize the many very real dramas surrounding water that hindered efforts to douse the flames.
While the tanks were indeed full before the fire broke out, by Wednesday fire hydrants in Palisades had run out of water, as they are not designed for such mass-scale wildfires.
All of the three water tanks in Palisades and several fire hydrants temporarily lost water because of the high demand, as experts have explained the system is not built to fight major blazes.
The water system used to fight the Palisades fire buckled under the demands of what turned out to be the most destructive fire in city history, with some hydrants running dry as they were overstressed without assistance from firefighting aircraft for hours early Wednesday.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass denied that water tanks in the city had run out of water as she defended herself from backlash over the city's fire-fighting efforts
Firefighters fight the flames from the Palisades Fire as several fire hydrants ran out of water
All of the three water tanks in Palisades and several fire hydrants temporarily lost water because of the high demand
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was pumping from aqueducts and groundwater into the system, but demand was so high that it wasn’t enough to refill three 1-million gallon tanks in hilly Pacific Palisades that help pressurize hydrants for the neighborhood. Many went dry as at least 1,000 buildings were engulfed in flames.
The dry hydrants prompted a swirl of criticism on social media, including from President-elect Donald Trump, against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom’s water management policies.
Rick Caruso, a real estate developer and former Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioner who lost to Bass in the last mayoral race, said officials needed to answer for the system’s failures.
'You got thousands of homes destroyed, families destroyed, businesses destroyed,' he said.
'I think you can figure out a way to get more water in the hydrants. I don’t think there’s room for excuses here.'
Furious Los Angelenos, including A-listers like Sarah Michelle Geller have slammed LA officials, accusing them of failing to keep the city safe amid the historic wildfires.
'City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping,' Gellar posted to Instagram, referencing the traffic jam that happened as people tried to flee their homes before the fires reached them.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stood stone-faced and refused to answer a reporter's question for two full minutes after being out of the country as killed wildfires raged through her city
Actress and producer Sara Foster wrote on X: 'We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits.
'[Mayor Bass, governor Newsom] RESIGN. Your far left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.'
But state and local officials and experts forcefully hit back, saying critics were connecting unrelated issues and spreading false information during a crisis. State water distribution choices were not behind the hydrant problems, they said, nor was a lack of overall supply in the region.
Janisse Quiñones, head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said 3 million gallons of water were available when the Palisades fire started but the demand was four times greater than 'we’ve ever seen in the system.'
Hydrants are designed for fighting fires at one or two houses at a time, not hundreds, Quiñones said, and refilling the tanks also requires asking fire departments to pause firefighting efforts. Mayor Bass said 20 percent of hydrants went dry.
Bass has also been criticized for being away on a trip in Ghana when the fires broke out. She stood silent and stared into the middle distance while refusing to answer an Irish reporter's questions for two full minutes after being out of the country while historic wildfires raged through her city.
