A Los Angeles councilwoman whose district has been ravaged by wildfires wants to hold leaders accountable for empty reservoirs

A member of the Los Angeles council, whose district has been devastated recent historic forest firesis demanding accountability from city and state officials after empty reservoirs hampered firefighting efforts, raising questions about how prepared the city will be to host world-stage events in the next few years.

“This fire was unlike anything we’ve seen before, but there’s no secret that we’ve chronically underinvested in critical infrastructure and public safety in Los Angeles,” Council member Traci Park told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday.

“And I think there are a lot of questions about what could have been done more or what could have been done differently, and what will be needed in Los Angeles to make sure this never happens again,” she said.

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Next devastating forest fires that began in the mountains of Los Angeles last week, there have been concerns about malfunctioning fire hydrants and significant multimillion-dollar cuts to the fire department’s budget.

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded Friday by calling for an independent audit of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to investigate water supply problems during the emergency.

“The ongoing reports of loss of water pressure at some local fire hydrants during the fire and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply concerning to me and the community,” Newsom wrote to LADWP’s chief executive officer and chief engineer. Janisse Quiñones and LA County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella in the letter.

Meanwhile, Democratic legislators defended the state leadership.

“Obviously, I’m very concerned about the water,” said Park, whose district includes the Pacific Palisades, one of the first and hardest hit areas by wildfires.

“I was personally at the command post in Will Rogers as this Volcano of Fire went over our mountain, through our town, all the way to the Pacific Coast Highway, and during those events at night, I happened to be listening to our firefighters not having enough water,” she said. . “And I think we all have questions about expectations, how our firefighters should fight the fire without the thing they need for it, which is water?”

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Park, who has been collecting crucial aid in her neighboring Westchester office to distribute to her constituents, said she is also concerned about disaster preparedness, since Los Angeles will host the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.

“I was concerned about our level of preparedness for those events before this happened,” Park said of the fires. “I certainly think over the last few days we’ve seen some of those gaps on full display.”

Park expressed her gratitude to Newsom and “his support at the state level,” as well as county and Cal Fire partners, “the reality is that we host millions of people in our city, and our resources are already so thin, clearly we have a lot of work to do strategically planning to continue preparing for those big events to come.”

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In the months leading up to the wildfires, Los Angeles city officials cut the fire department’s budget by just under $18 million, according to the department.

At the state level, experts and lawmakers are pointing fingers at the management of state forests by top leaders and a lesser-known problem: the state’s outdated water reserve system. Existing reservoirs of California it can only hold so much water, and many were built in the mid-20th century.

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In 2024, the state experienced record rainfall following an atmospheric river event, but the existing water infrastructure faced difficulties in managing the sudden influx of water. A significant part of that rain was thrown into the ocean.

In 2014, California voters passed Proposition 1also known as the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act, which authorized $2.7 billion in bonds to increase the state’s water storage capacity by building new reservoirs and groundwater storage facilities. However, according to local reports, within Prop. 1 new reservoirs have not been completed.