Lack of Generators Kept Water From Crews : Aftermath: When blaze cut power lines, there was no way to pump water to hydrants. Now companies plan to buy diesel or methane-powered generators.

As the recent firestorm tore through Kinneloa Mesa and began to torch a huge, tile-roofed home decorated for Halloween, firefighters discovered that virtually no water was coming from hydrants to douse the flames.

“The problem is there is not enough water to put it out,” a frustrated Downey Fire Department Battalion Chief Gail Crook said as flames, unaffected by the small spray of water coming from his crew’s pumper truck, consumed the house.

Such was the case throughout Kinneloa Canyon, north of Pasadena, where fire ate through local power lines Oct. 27, shutting down the electric pumps employed by the Kinneloa Irrigation District, the company that handles the small, unincorporated area’s water supply. The company had no emergency generators as backup.

“We couldn’t pump water uphill to our emptying reservoirs and tanks without power,” said Gene W. Burt, general manager of the company, which is privately owned by its 550 customers.

By 2 p.m., when two auxiliary generators provided by Southern California Edison Co. had restored the water pressure, nearly a quarter of the area’s homes had been destroyed.

Today, in foothill areas of the San Gabriel Valley, three water companies remain without emergency backup systems: the Kinneloa district, the city of Sierra Madre and the Las Flores Water Co. in Altadena.

The region’s 11 other municipal and private water retailers dotted along the brushy foothills all have emergency power sources.

In the aftermath of the October fire, Kinneloa and Sierra Madre are considering getting diesel generators or methane-powered pumps.

“We have always been vulnerable (to brush fires), but we’ve never seen devastation like this,” Burt said.

The district had not bought backup generators because, at $35,000 each, the cost for the 550 customers would have been too high, Burt said. The fire changed his mind.

“When the board meets this month, I will recommend they vote for a bond issue to buy two or three of these things,” the general manager said.

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More than 100 houses were gutted in Kinneloa Estates, Kinneloa Canyon and Pasadena Glen--all served by the irrigation district. Some customers say they are very angry; that the tragedy might have been averted.

“I don’t believe it’s inherently dangerous to live here,” said Linda Williams, president of Pasadena Glen Improvement Assn. “This was just a lack of proper water management.”

Burt said the fire hydrants were virtually dry by the time firefighters arrived because homeowners, who feared the flames coming down the hillside, turned on sprinkler systems and were spraying down their roofs. As a result, water was quickly drained from the district’s five reservoirs and two small tanks located uphill from the company’s wells and could not be replaced without pumps to boost the water up the incline, he said.

“If we had hydrants with water to connect to up there, we definitely could have saved more houses,” Downey Battalion Chief Crook said. “There’s no question.”

In neighboring Sierra Madre, where flames from the same blaze reached the edge of the city, the City Council asked its staff last week to develop a 10-year capital improvement plan for the hillside community’s water company that would include, in the short term, installation of auxiliary generators.

“We are exploring the purchase of emergency disaster power sources,” said Sean J. Joyce, interim city administrator. He added that the city will begin a public information campaign to explain the possible need of higher water rates to make such improvements.

In Altadena, an unincorporated county area at the base of the San Gabriels where the fire destroyed at least 11 homes, three water companies are at work. All, except the Las Flores Water Co., which serves 1,469 customers in the central Altadena area, have backup systems.

“If the power goes off, we wait until it goes back on,” Las Flores’ Supt. Wim Waarbroek said. “We haven’t got any money for (auxiliary power).”

The power did not go off to Las Flores during the recent fire.

Lincoln Avenue Water Co., which serves 4,200 Altadena property owners who have to buy shares in the company to receive water, has a mobile generator that can be quickly connected to emergency hookups at each pump.

Rubio Canyon Water Land Assn., which serves another 3,100 homes, has two such generators.

Across the region, officials from other foothill-area water companies say they are prepared to deal with a power outage with mobile generators, gas-powered pumps and larger reservoirs.

In Arcadia, where multimillion-dollar mansions in the hillside Oaks region overlook Santa Anita racetrack, the fire raged less than four miles from the city. The city-owned water company was ready for a possible power outage with three mobile diesel-powered generators and two methane-burning pumps.

“Kinneloa wouldn’t happen here” Arcadia water officials say.

“The (City) Council saw the need to see we have a reliable water system. So they approved the monies to ensure we can move water in an emergency,” said Eldon Davidson, water manager of the company, which serves 14,000 customers.

Larger water companies--such as Arcadia, Pasadena, Glendora and Monrovia--also have a connection to the Metropolitan Water District--which provides most of the water used in Southern California. The MWD connection can provide enough pressure for firefighters in areas out of the foothills, Davidson said.

Pasadena Water and Power, the region’s biggest water retailer, has its own power plant and three portable generators, its officials said.

“We’re modifying the pumps for quick installation in emergencies,” said David Plumb, general manager.

In 1980, the foothills above Duarte caught fire, destroying 40 luxury estates in upscale Bradbury. Water for the area is supplied by the California-American Water Co., an investor-owned firm with 6,800 customers. Officials there say today that they are ready for an emergency with two portable generators. In fact, one of them was sent to the recent Thousands Oaks fire.

To the east, at the mouth of San Gabriel Canyon--nicknamed “Barbecue Alley,” by authorities for the thousands of small cooking fires lit legally by visitors to the popular recreation area--the city-owned Azusa Valley Water Co. also has backup pumping systems, city officials said.

The 48,000 residents of nearby Glendora have perhaps the region’s best-equipped water supplying systems. The city-owned water company has three portable generators and four smaller gas booster pumps. Meanwhile, a private firm, Suburban Water Systems, which serves customers on the west side of the city, has two mobile generators and each of its pumps can be powered by either electricity or natural gas.

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“If we lost power, we wouldn’t have any problem maintaining pressure,” said Tony Zampiello, water superintendent for Glendora’s Municipal Water Co., which serves 13,000 homes and businesses.

Some regional water companies have a mutual-aid agreement in the event of a disaster.

Monrovia’s city-owned water company has a pact with the larger Arcadia and Glendora municipal water companies. The city, which has large canyon parks running into the foothills, has a methane backup pump to serve that specific area. In emergencies, it would also seek equipment from the other two cities, Monrovia water officials say.

“We also have 26 million gallons of water storage to help,” said Paul Smith, the city’s utilities manager.

The tiny Kinneloa Irrigation District had a fraction of that capacity with its three small reservoirs and three tanks holding a combined 2.85 million gallons.

In the cities of San Dimas and Claremont, where many homeowners in foothill canyon areas pay high fire-suppression assessments, a private water company--Southern California Water Co.-- pumps water to 14,500 homes and businesses. Company officials say they are well aware of fire risk and the likelihood of a power outage. The firm has a few small portable gas-powered generators and a large mobile generator that can power several pumps, said Michael Gramata, district foreman.

Like many water companies in the far east end of the San Gabriel Valley, the Southern California Water Co.’s large reservoirs are positioned at the highest point in the area and the force of gravity can be used to pump water through the system, Gramata said.

One such water provider is owned by the city of La Verne, where the municipal water company relies on 25 million gallons of water stored in reservoirs in the highest part of town.

“It’s enough to last three days normally or least a day with a major fire,” said Dan Kessey, assistant superintendent for public works.

The city utility, which serves 7,800 customers, also owns portable diesel and gas pumps. Kessey said.

“With recent fires, we’re trying to enhance our emergency system with innovations. We’re testing a huge sewer cleaning device as a possible giant pump,” he said.

The firefighters in Kinneloa Canyon on Oct. 27 were forced to innovate.

With fire engines capable of carrying 500 to 600 gallons--generally only enough to fight small blazes--one Los Angeles County fire captain, upon discovering the hydrants were dry, ordered an engine crew to start draining swimming pools. Firefighters drove the engine into the back yard of a house, crashing through the gate and running over a neatly trimmed hedge to reach the pool, pump water from it and save one house.

As Frank Smith, a Vernon firefighter tackling the fire, put it:

“There’s no shortage of firefighters, just a shortage of water.”