Parts of the Los Angeles metro area and surrounding suburbs in Southern California have been ravaged by fierce wildfires fueled by high winds that the L.A. Fire Department has been incapable of effectively fighting due in part to reported water shortages.

The depleted water supply in the scorched Palisades area, including a drained reservoir and empty fire hydrants, was reportedly known about by the head of L.A.'s water system for months but little or no action was taken to address it, according to the Daily Mail.

Rather than ensuring the city had an adequate supply of water to handle potential emergencies like annual wildfires on top of normal consumption, L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones, who Democratic Mayor Karen Bass hired in May at a $750,000 per year salary, was instead focused on things like diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Empty reservoir and hydrants

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an investigation into the "deeply troubling" reports that LADWP knowingly drained and left empty the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that just burned.

The out-of-commission reservoir resulted in LAFD firefighters finding empty fire hydrants or hydrants with little or no water pressure, as a trio of 1-million-gallon water storage tanks in the area that feed the hydrant system were rapidly depleted and had no source to draw more water from to keep the system pressurized and full while the blaze was ongoing.

Per the Times, the Santa Ynez reservoir was drained and taken offline by the LADWP in February after a substantial tear was found in the reservoir's cover that protects the vital water supply from contaminants. The job to repair the cover was contracted out to a private firm a few months later for $130,000, but it is unclear if the job was ever finished and the reservoir remains empty nearly a year after it was first drained.

Excuses, excuses ...

The Times reported that LADWP CEO Quiñones, who was undoubtedly aware of the empty reservoir's status as well as the empty or broken hydrants, offered up a series of excuses to try and dodge responsibility for combating wildfires, downplay the failure to get the reservoir back online before the wildfire season, or to minimize the impact a full reservoir may have had on the LAFD's futile attempts to contain the devastating Palisades fire.

To be sure, several named and unnamed sources informed the Times that while a full reservoir likely would not have been sufficient to completely halt the fast-moving blaze, there is little question that more water would have helped immensely in limiting the damage and saving some structures, including residential homes, from utter destruction.

"You still would have ended up with serious drops in pressure," former LADWP General Manager Martin Adams told the Times on Thursday. "Would Santa Ynez [Reservoir] have helped? Yes, to some extent. Would it have saved the day? I don’t think so."

As for the lengthy repair job that kept the reservoir empty for nearly a year, that situation was condemned by the head of the local DWP workers' union, Gus Corona, who said, "It’s completely unacceptable that this reservoir was empty for almost a year for minor repairs," and added, "This work should have been done in-house, and they shouldn’t have depended on a contractor to do it. I truly believe it’s something that could have been avoided."

"Equity" and "social justice" the top priorities of LADWP chief

Meanwhile, as much of L.A. is surrounded by raging wildfires, a recently resurfaced video clip of an interview with Quiñones revealed that maintaining an adequate water supply for the city and being prepared to put out fires was not the primary focus of her $750K per year job that began in May.

Rather, she explained that her top priority in managing LADWP was "that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice and making sure that we right the wrongs that we've done in the past from an infrastructure perspective and that we involve the community in that process."

"And this utility is serious about it, is authentic about it, and so I'm just super excited to be part of that movement," she added.

At the same time as these revelations, President-elect Donald Trump asked rhetorically in a Truth Social post, "The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?"