Los Angeles residents sue city over lack of water to fight wildfires

The Los Angeles wildfires have caused devastation across the county, with more than 12,000 homes and buildings lost to the blaze. 

As Californians look to pick up the pieces of their lives, some have turned to legal recourse to claw back their losses.

On 14 January, Reuters reported that a group of residents and others affected by the blaze were filing a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The plaintiffs accuse the department of failing to adequately manage water supplies, leaving firefighters unable to tackle the fires.

Now, reality TV personalities Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have launched a similar class action lawsuit with 20 other affected property owners. The couple, who rose to stardom on reality TV show ‘The Hills,’ filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, blaming Los Angeles and its municipal water department for the mismanagement of water supplies.

In both cases, the claimants say a lack of available water caused their homes to be destroyed.

Why are residents suing Los Angeles over the fires?

Specifically, the cases allege that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, which can hold as much as 443 million litres of water, has been empty since February 2024. 

Southern California relies on a lot of imported water to meet its needs. Around 50 to 60 per cent of its water is from the Colorado River, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Eastern Sierra.

Adding fuel to the fire of these claims were comments by newly-elected President Trump who, even before he was sworn in, was pointing the finger at California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

“The fires are still raging in LA,” he posted on Truth Social. “The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost.”

Trump claimed Newsom refused to sign the “water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water” to put out the fires. But reporting by the BBC suggests such a declaration never existed.

Was a lack of water to blame for the devastating fires?

Governor Gavin Newsom admitted to the press on 10 January that there hadn’t been enough water for some fire hydrants, which did hamper the emergency response. Newsom has since called for an investigation into the loss of pressure to the hydrants.

In a letter to LADWP and LA County Public Works, he wrote, “Losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors.”

A key focus of the investigation will be allegations that the Santa Ynez reservoir was unnecessarily offline. Reports suggest that it was emptied in early 2024 to facilitate repairs to its floating cover, which is essential for maintaining water quality.

Why it was left inoperable for almost a year isn’t yet understood, although some have speculated that it’s down to a combination of bureaucratic delays, safety concerns and funding.

But Los Angeles has a much bigger water issue than just one reservoir.

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California has faced a prolonged megadrought over the past two decades, which has been made worse by climate change. Since the early 2000s, the state is considered to have seen some of the driest years for over a millennia.

In Los Angeles, various measures have been undertaken to conserve water. These have included investment in water recycling systems, public awareness campaigns, restrictions on use and new building standards.

Despite these efforts, reservoir levels have remained low. In 2022, reservoirs were a third below their average level, reaching levels state officials called ‘concerning.’

However, things have rebounded since then, and an abnormally wet winter in 2022/2023 saw most of the reservoirs replenished. By the start of 2024, the state’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville were nearing capacity.

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Why the hydrants were empty is an answer we will have to wait for, but even if they were full, experts believe it wouldn’t have prevented the ‘perfect storm’ that contributed to LA’s worst wildfire in history.

“Local water systems are usually designed to fight local, small-scale fires over a limited time period,” Kathryn Sorensen, director of research at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy told the LA Times. “They are not generally designed to fight large, long-lasting wildfires.”

More influential in the spread of the wildfires were the extended drought andfierce Santa Ana winds that whipped up the flames and sent fire fronts hurtling towards residential areas. Still, those who are pursuing legal action, perhaps to cover uninsured losses, will be hoping to pin the blame on the state.