Water Pressure Burned Laguna : Fire: Distribution problems--and not low supply--hindered fight, records show. Millions of gallons went unused.

Hundreds of Laguna Beach homes burned to the ground during Orange County’s worst wildfire three weeks ago, while millions of gallons of water sat unused in the city’s reservoirs, records show.

Although four of the city’s 22 reservoirs ran dry by the end of the day of the fire, 15 others remained half-full or better, and there was an abundant supply of water near the neighborhoods where nearly half of the 366 homes were lost.

Even in the Skyline and Mystic Hills sections of the city--the neighborhoods most devastated by the fire--three of the reservoirs that provide water to those areas never hit the empty mark, and nearly 2 million gallons were still available at the peak of the firefighting effort.

Instead, it was the magnitude and speed of the firestorm--as well as the water system’s inability to maintain pressure and shift supplies to where they were needed--that doomed the efforts of firefighters manning nearly 100 engines. Experts say the fire that began on Oct. 27 and burned for more than 12 hours placed unforeseen demands on a water distribution network designed to fight only one or two house fires at a time.

“I was led to believe that all of our reservoirs went dry,” Councilman Robert F. Gentry said last week. “It sounds as if our system of supply is good, but we ought to review how we shuttle water between reservoirs.”

In the days immediately following the fire, city leaders have fiercely debated whether an unbuilt 3-million-gallon reservoir--recommended for construction at the summit of Top of the World since 1990--would have saved homes had it been approved by the City Council.

Longtime proponents of the reservoir threatened a recall campaign against the three council members who, largely for environmental reasons, have blocked construction of the $3.5-million concrete reserve. And there were even public calls for the resignation of the entire five-member council for allegedly failing to ensure adequate water supplies.

But after reviewing records from the Laguna Beach County Water District, The Times found that in most areas of the city the supply of water was never at issue:

* For six critical hours, district engineers had no clue as to how much water was in the reservoirs because of an unexplained breakdown in the computer-driven system that monitors water levels and signals when a reservoir needs refilling. When the system resumed functioning, again for reasons unknown, water engineers were stunned to see that three reservoirs had apparently been drained.

* The water levels in some reservoirs became so high at one point during the firestorm that engineers could not pipe in more without risking overflow. “We didn’t have any place to put” more water, said James Nestor, the district’s chief engineer. “The reservoirs were fairly full, and the pumps (moving water from the reservoirs to the stricken areas) were running full tilt,” he explained.

* At the peak of the firefighting effort, when the need for water was greatest, the reservoir system still contained 14.2 million gallons.

Chip Prather, assistant director of fire services for the Orange County Fire Department, confirmed that the problem was never a shortage of water, but rather the lack of water pressure, and a system that was not designed with a fire of this magnitude in mind. “The system there is designed for a house fire--one or two maybe,” Prather said.

“I never heard that anyone ran out of water,” he said. “I heard that there were places where they couldn’t get water . . . (because) they had no pressure. What we got there was a water pressure problem.”

Even the chief backer of the long-debated 3-million-gallon reservoir, after making his own inquiries, has concluded that the added reservoir might have enabled firefighters to save 10 of the 366 homes.

At the fire’s outset, the city’s 22 reservoirs held a total of 16 million gallons. By early evening, after a full day of firefighting, 14 million gallons remained. By midnight, after the gusting Santa Ana winds died down and a brisk onshore breeze helped drive the fire back onto areas that had already burned, four reservoirs had run dry. But the others still had a combined 12 million gallons.

For the hardest hit areas, Skyline and Mystic Hills, water officials had ample water, but could not get it to the fire fast enough. They pumped 4,400 gallons of water a minute--the most their pumps could push--into the two reservoirs nearest the ill-fated neighborhoods. But the fire engines assembled there had the capacity to draw out an estimated 90,000 gallons a minute.

“It was being sucked right out as soon as we got it in,” said Joe Sovella, general manager of the Laguna Beach County Water District.

“We were outnumbered 20 to 1,” Nestor, the chief engineer, said.

The odds were not much better elsewhere.

At the El Morro Beach Mobile Home Park, 40 structures were consumed and four severely damaged, while 2 1/2 million gallons of water sat unused in a nearby reservoir.

El Morro is part of the Crystal Cove State Park and is protected by the Orange County Fire Department.

During a fire, it draws its water from the North Coast Highway transmission main, which normally flows at 900 gallons a minute. Although the park sits next to two huge reservoirs with a combined capacity of 8.3-million gallons, its four fire hydrants do not draw water from the reservoirs.

Nestor said the mobile home park would have been at less risk if it was tied to the El Morro reservoirs and had more hydrants.

“In my professional opinion, I don’t think the system (at El Morro) was adequate to fight the fires,” he said.

The reservoirs could have been used to protect the trailer park and the El Morro Elementary School, which was threatened by the blaze at one point, had they been connected to fire hydrants serving both, he said.

But fire officials contacted last week said it was not a water shortage that doomed their mission at El Morro. Exploding propane tanks attached to the burning mobile homes forced them to evacuate the park early on, they said.

In Emerald Bay, where 55 homes were lost and 26 were damaged, two reservoirs holding a combined 4.9 million gallons sat nearby virtually untouched. According to the district’s water records, the Moorhead Reservoir never fell below 2.3 million gallons the day of the fire and the San Joaquin Reservoir never fell below 1.9 million.

“Water was not the problem there. The pressure was,” said water district manager Sovella. “They didn’t have much of a chance.”

Two other reservoirs--Sweany and Viejo--were used to fight the fires at Emerald Bay; while they both neared empty, there were more than 4 million gallons in reserve at two nearby reservoirs. Again, it was the inability to deliver that water--not a water shortage--that caused the flow to slow to a trickle.

Orange County Fire Battalion Chief Ron Blaul, who arrived to fight the Emerald Bay fire shortly after it began, led one of the first teams of firefighters into the area. His team immediately began battling fires on 15 homes and within a few hours, had fought flames on 60 houses. As houses burned, pipes inside burst and water spewed forth, complicating the water pressure problems they already faced with so many firefighters tapping into the overburdened system.

“You could quite conceivably still have water in your reservoirs. But whether your distribution system can get it to your hydrants” is another matter, he said.

In Canyon Acres, where 49 homes were destroyed and three were damaged, firefighters faced a fast-moving blaze in a remote area with little water pressure. Canyon Acres is served by a pipeline that runs down Laguna Canyon Road and can deliver 17,100 gallons per minute.

But firefighters said Canyon Acres was a lost cause from the beginning.

“We never deployed anything into Canyon Acres Road,” Prather said. “It was a dead-end road that was basically indefensible. (The fire) did all that damage in a matter of moments.”

Blaul, who led a strike team into Mystic Hills after being summoned away from Emerald Bay, said he was not surprised to hear that millions of gallons of water sat in the reservoirs while hydrants came up empty.

“The water’s (availability in the reservoirs) is one thing,” he said. “It’s getting the water to the hydrants” that is important.

Since the fire, many people have suggested that the construction of the 3-million-gallon reservoir at the city’s highest point would have alleviated much of the problem and might have saved some homes.

The city has blocked numerous attempts to place the reservoir in an environmentally sensitive area and forced the water district to go to court to condemn the land. The City Council is to consider the reservoir issue again Tuesday night.

Councilman Wayne L. Peterson, the leading reservoir proponent, said the water problems probably contributed to the loss of about five to 10 homes at the city’s highest elevation, in the Top of the World neighborhood.

He said the figure is based on reports from firefighters and the staff of the Laguna Beach County Water District. The reports, he said, give mixed results.

“We have received reports from the fire staff and the water district staff that we did in fact run out of water that could have been used to save some of the homes,” Peterson said. “It was a small number of homes, five to 10, maybe more. But to lose one home is one too many.”

Nestor, the chief water engineer who also supports building the Top of the World reservoir, said: “Who knows how long it would have lasted? Maybe a few minutes. But every little bit helps.”

Said Prather, the Fire Department’s second-in-command: “The water system, the amount of fire, the defensible space--whether or not that reservoir would have had an impact? I’m not sure it would.”

Gentry, an opponent of the reservoir who lost his home and a rental property to the fire, said he is convinced that nothing could have stopped the blaze.

“My feeling all along is that the fire was so horrendous that no matter the water available, it would not have stopped the conflagration,” he said. “When I left my neighborhood and it was raining embers the size of golf balls, in my gut I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop it.”

Times staff writer Dan Weikel contributed to this report.

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Firefighter’s Foe

In many instances, it wasn’t a lack of water that hampered efforts to contain the Laguna Beach fires. The main culprits: dwindling water pressure, inadequate pipeline connections and insufficient pumping capacity. Some problems firefighters encountered:

Fire-Ravaged Neighborhoods

Five sections of Laguna Beach were hardest hit by the fire:

A) EL MORRO

Loss: 40 homes destroyed; 4 damaged

Water source: Coast Highway Transmission Main along North Coast Highway

Problem: Only four fire hydrants; exploding propane tanks; speed of fire

B) EMERALD BAY

Loss: 55 homes destroyed; 26 damaged

Water source: Sweaney, Viejo, San Joaquin, Moorhead reservoirs

Problem: Low water pressure

C) CANYON ACRES

Loss: 49 homes destroyed; 3 damaged

Water source: Aufdenkamp Transmission Main along Laguna Canyon Road

Problem: Low water pressure; poor access hampered firetrucks

D) SKYLINE/MYSTIC HILLS

Loss: 199 homes destroyed; 12 damaged

Water source: Temple Hills 600, Alta Laguna, Rimrock, Summit, Hastie reservoirs

Problem: Inadequate pump capacity; lack of water from two reservoirs

E) TEMPLE HILLS

Loss: 23 homes destroyed; 4 damaged

Water source: Temple Hills 600, Temple Hills 800, Rimrock, Tiajuana Two reservoirs

Problem: Low water pressure; lack of water from two reservoirs

From Reservoir to Fire

Loss of water pressure in water pipes was one of the reasons some Laguna Beach homes were lost to fire. How the problem occurs:

1) A labyrinth of underground pipes distributes water from reservoirs to fire hydrants.

2) Pipes are under constant pressure, typically between 40 to 120 pounds per square inch.

3) As more hydrants are opened, water flows out of pipes faster and water level drops in pipes.

4) As water level drops, pressure in pipes decreases with resulting loss of water at hose.

Proposed Reservoir

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider whether a 3-million-gallon reservoir should be added to the current system. Some say if it had been built before the fires, it could have saved homes. Opponents say the proposed site is too environmentally sensitive.

Reservoir Levels

Water levels in the city’s reservoirs changed throughout Oct. 27, the first day of the fire. Some actually increased as water was pumped into the system. Here are the water levels at three different times. Amounts in thousands of gallons. Late-night readings are for midnight to 1 a.m.

When fire Late started 6 p.m. Night 1. El Moro One 2,500 2,500 0 2. El Moro Two 0 0 2,000 3. Sweaney 336 n/a n/a 4. San Joaquin 2,200 2,200 1,900 5. Viejo 433 89 0 6. Moorhead 2,400 2,300 2,400 7. Canyon Acres 60 60 60 8. Plat 330 330 330 9. Ridge 536 523 442 10. Sycamore Hills 930 900 840 11. Alta Laguna 390 137 0 12. Temple Hills 800 195 43 0 13. Rim Rock 480 60 105 14. Temple Hills 600 200 25 44 15. Buena Vista 68 67 45 16. Oak Street 837 817 837 17. Bluebird 1,700 1,700 1,600 18. Summit 411 405 272 19. Alfred R. Hastie 1,400 1,400 570 20. Arch Beach 68 67 45 21. Tiajuana One 136 136 150 22. Tiajuana Two 438 438 480

n/a: Information not available

Sources: Irvine Ranch Water District, Laguna Beach County Water District, Orange County Fire Department, Times reports

Researched by JEFF BRAZIL, MARK PLATTE and CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times