… To accommodate growth in Pacific Palisades, they built a reservoir in Santa Ynez Canyon, as well as a pumping station “to increase fire protection,” as the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s then-chief water engineer, Gerald W. Jones, told The Times in 1972. Some Palisades residents had initially fought having a reservoir so close, fearing a repeat of the 1963 Baldwin Hills disaster when a reservoir failed, killing five people and destroying about 280 homes. In the decades since, the Santa Ynez Reservoir became a source of comfort. … But on Jan. 7, the reservoir that had long been a lifeline was empty when Palisades residents needed it most, as a wildfire spread rapidly amid dangerously high winds. … The episode has drawn an urgent question from residents and city leaders: Why was the reservoir empty for nearly a year?

Other wildfire and water articles:

• Los Angeles Times: Boiling won’t help. Explaining the Palisades and Altadena ‘Do Not Use’ water alerts
• Newsweek: California rain could bring new dangers from wildfires
• Fox Weather: Much-needed rain eyes Southern California this weekend: What it means for burn scars, wildfires
• USA Today: Rain forecasts bring relief as California fires blaze, but there’s a chance of mudslides
• Gov. Gavin Newsom news release: Governor Newsom deploys specialized debris flow teams to Southern California ahead of wet weather
• Association of California Water Agencies news release: ACWA statement on Southern California wildfires
• NPR: This scientist studies climate change. Then the Los Angeles fire destroyed his home