True, the Pacific Palisades reservoir was down for maintenance. The cover that keeps added chemicals from evaporating was torn and needed to be replaced. However, the very high winds and high risks were known days ahead of time. Water could have been pumped in ahead of time to partially fill the reservoir in case it would be needed – apparently some 10-15 million gallons.
That was a planning failure, but the bigger one was the power in the hill areas was not turned off.
We know that the fire started around 10:30 AM on Tuesday. The GOES visible satellite image at that time is shown below and you can see the smoke plume from a single fire.
Using Google Maps we can easily identify that spot, just east of the Summit Community…What do we find at the location where the fire started? Power lines. Hung on wood structures.
There is other evidence. The wonderful Ting power sensor network noted disturbances in the electrical power system in the neighborhood just prior to the fire.
The big question is why the Los Angeles power authorities did not de-energize all the power lines on the hills.
DB2