Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered an independent investigation into how the loss of water left dry fire hydrants and hindered firefighting efforts in Los Angeles.

Water experts dismissed Trump’s claims that California water policy is to blame for dry hydrants. But Los Angeles is also unprepared for the age of urban wildfires.

Other fires, like the 2023 Maui fires and the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Northern California, have caused hydrants to go dry in the past, and it seems L.A. will need to go back to the drawing board if these kinds of wildfire-scale urban blazes become the new normal.

As wildfires roar into residential neighborhoods, firefighters in California and elsewhere are finding that water systems can’t keep up with the demand.

Small canvas bags that Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters used as makeshift water containers to quickly put out a trash fire have been misdescribed on social media as women’s handbags, suggesting the LAFD is under-resourced because of budget cuts and donations of firefighting supplies to Ukraine.

Some fire hydrants in Los Angeles had no water to douse the fires. Here's what happened, and why the endangered smelt fish wrongly got blamed.

Firefighters working to extinguish the wildfires in the Los Angeles area have faced challenges as hydrants either have water shortages or completely ran out.

The Palisades Fire, which has destroyed an estimated 1,000 structures, was first reported at around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 in the 1100 block of North Piedra Morada Drive.