The lack of water from water sources in the Palisades fire is hurting firefighters, Caruso said

As fires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, some firefighters battling the Palisades fire reported on internal radio systems that fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades would stop.

“The water pipes are down,” said another firefighter.

“The water has just gone down,” said another.

L.A. developer Rick Caruso, who owns Palisades Village in the heart of the Westside, told The Times he's been getting similar reports from his employees at the mall.

“There is no water in the fire extinguisher,” said Caruso. “The firefighters are there [in the neighborhood]and there is nothing they can do – there are burned places, burned houses, and burned businesses. … It should never happen.”

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Water and Power has acknowledged the reports of a decrease in the flow of water from the water extraction machine but has no information on the number of water pipes without water and the extent of the issue.

In a statement, the DWP said water crews were working in the area “to ensure water availability.”

“The site has water tanks and co-operation is ongoing to continue to supply the site,” the DWP said in a statement.

It is not clear how widespread the hydrant problems were or what caused them. In November, a lack of water from a hydrant damaged the effort to fight the Mountain fire in Ventura County, when two water pumps did not work, delaying the process of bringing water to the hills.

Caruso, a former commissioner of the city's Water and Power Board who also ran for mayor in 2022, argued that the problem stems from problems with the water storage dams that supply water to the area.

“This is a window into the problem of the city's system — not only mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” Caruso said.

The DWP and the Los Angeles Fire Department were not immediately available for comment on Caruso's comments.

Caruso, who left his home in Brentwood on Tuesday, said his concerns were heard. His daughter's house was destroyed when a fire broke out on Tuesday, he said his family was waiting to hear if one of his sons lost his house.

Caruso said late Tuesday that many homes near his Palisades Village shopping center were “burned to the ground”, and that his shopping centre, which opened in 2018, was damaged. He said, like thousands of others in the area, he had been waiting through the night to see how his property would fare – and the full extent of the damage.

“We feel the personal effects of this,” he said.