By Sofia Karstens at Brownstone dot org.

By now, everyone knows the basics of the California fires that burned down the Palisades and Altadena. And most people are aware of the shady "Make it make sense" particulars around our elected officials and the quasi- and government agencies like the LA DWP.

Some people understand the corruption, fraud, and coordination of criminal activity that has led us here. Far fewer understand how deeply that dysfunction persists, and the degree to which it has been amplified.

The Santa Ynez Reservoir, which held 117,000,000 gallons of water, was emptied in February of 2024. It could have been repaired by employees, but it sat empty for 11 months.

Everyone knows California has a desert climate. Everyone knows about the Santa Ana winds. Everyone has an understanding of the intersection between electricity, fire and fire prevention, trees, and wind in California. The reservoir holding over 100 million gallons was emptied because there was a tear in the cover, the repair was not expedited, and the decision was made to drain it for maintenance before the Santa Anas in the middle of a drought.

At that time, the LADWP was focused entirely on 3 things:

1. Obtaining approval for a recycling sewer water plant, at a cost of over $750 million.

2. Research (using ratepayer funds) converting an existing gas-fired power plant in Utah to hydrogen.

3. Reorganizing the DWP around, and prioritizing, DEI. (To quote the head of the DWP: "Equity is my number 1 priority.").

First, why is the DWP spending ratepayer money to develop technologies and research, to the detriment of public safety measures? Spending ratepayer dollars to figure out how to use a new technology, while our own utility infrastructure lies decaying, untended, and unsupported, is at best outside the scope of the contract.

Next, why are we prioritizing DEI at the expense of the readiness of resources that a 9-year-old could predict we will need in California? Five percent of the LA city fire personnel are women. The 3 most senior people holding leadership positions all came out of that 5%. Not impossible…but neither is rolling a 12 six times in a row.

Researchers said urban water systems like DWP's were not designed to fight wildfires that overtake whole neighborhoods…Is there a reason we are not making that a priority over, say, hydrogen research in Utah? There was zero attempt at mitigation, alternative, or course correction for a known liability in a known risk corridor during a known risk to prevent the state's most predictable disaster.

I submit that ANY conversation but the 117,000,000-gallon reservoir being empty is a shiny object…to avoid talking about that subject. But they've had over a year to course correct so surely they've assigned the minimal resources required to rectify this massive liability…

But it gets worse.

Sexy priorities like DEI and new technologies superseded public safety priorities, and now we see what those priorities got us. Keeping our infrastructure in repair and ready was and is not the executive decision, and our elected officials own those executive decisions because they appoint these positions and have oversight. They failed to adequately prepare a known fire corridor for the world's most predictable emergency. But they've had over a year to course correct so surely they've assigned the resources required to rectify these liabilities also…

But it gets worse.

We have a budget problem. Over $1 billion was spent last year on homeless nonsense that didn't help the homeless. Meanwhile, there was a $17 million cut to the fire department – about which Chief Crowley sent a letter in December saying, essentially, we aren't going to be prepared for a major disaster. She explicitly said that there is equipment we can't repair because we don't have the money for maintenance. Now, $17 million is not insignificant. If you are already cut to the bone with the budget, any more cuts will invariably affect levels of service. A ...