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In the early stages of a fire that swept through Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, firefighters made an attempt to stop it in a residential area high in the rugged hills — a neighborhood that had an unusual set of fire hydrants.
Across several city blocks, on the edge of parched wild lands, water for firefighting was provided by dozens of aging hydrants, each featuring a single 2.5-inch outlet for attaching a hose. The standard for modern fire hydrants is to be equipped with a larger outlet for firefighters to draw a greater volume of water, in addition to at least one other outlet.
The older hydrants with a single 2.5-inch outlet “are not considered to be suitable for normal fire-protection service,” according to the American Water Works Association, which establishes industry standards for fire hydrants across the country. Yet a New York Times review found them present — and, in many cases, the only source of water for firefighting — in several areas of Pacific Palisades, as well as other neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
It is unclear whether the larger, more modern hydrants could have helped firefighters limit the spread of the fire in those early moments, before the wind-stoked flames began jumping through the neighborhood and grew out of control. But the outdated hydrants are yet another mark on a city water system that was already under scrutiny after firefighters reported running out of water many hours into their battle against the Palisades blaze.
Location of fire hydrants with 2.5-inch and 4-inch outlets in Pacific Palisades
Sources: Fire hydrants location data from Los Angeles city government; Building outlines from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
By June Kim
Michael Fronimos, a fire chief in Michigan who has pressed for fire departments to conduct assessments of their hydrant systems, expressed surprise to see images of the smaller-capacity hydrants that The Times had found still operating in the Palisades. While firefighters are used to working with the infrastructure they are given, he said, hydrants with larger outlets are considered preferable, in part because water volume is more important than pressure when trying to put out a blaze.
