A reader was inside the park the night of the fire

I got some interesting emails from a reader who was INSIDE the park the night of the fire.

He writes:

I was up in the area around Dante’s View from around 7 – 8 pm on the day the fire broke out and saw Dante’s View go up in flames. What struck me is that nobody but me was up there. Despite the fire roads up Mt. Hollywood and the fancy new water system in the park, not a single fireman was up there poring water down on the flames. I’m no expert, but it looked to me like the fire there could easily have been beaten down with a few hoses on them. Perhaps they were so busy elsewhere at the time, but I don’t think so since that was before the big flare up and I couldn’t see smoke coming from any other area. And it certainly wasn’t because winds made it too dangerous to be up there. The air was virtually still.

Dante’s View just before sunset.

Dante’s View 40 minutes later.

He also brings up a question that has been bothering me since day one: whether the fire department was able to use the park’s own water. A year or so ago, some DWP engineers came to a PROS cm meeting to discuss water supplies in areas near the park. Until then, I wasn’t aware that Griffith Park has quite an extensive water system underground and above ground for emergencies such as earthquakes and….fires.

This reader cleverly found an article that explains why the water system was updated, which included the pipes, tanks and hydrants; the new system was finished just 3 years ago, and cost the city $35 million.

He adds:

What’s significant about what I saw up there is that there seemed to be no use made of the water system to fight the fire. No firemen with hoses plugged into the water system, no water automatically jetting from the pipes up there. If that’s not the function of the system, then what is it? If it’s just to refill helicopters, it wasn’t worth tens of milions they spent on it given that Mt. Lee already serves that purpose.

I had asked several city departments about the water, right after the fire, but no one really seemed to have any facts on it. The park Rangers actively helped firefighters the whole time, and one of them told me that it was too smoky for the firemen to use the water in the park. Then why store water in the park???

So I called the LAFD again to see if they had any answers. This time I spoke with Captain McKnight, Community Liason, and he said that yes, Mt. Lee was used as a helispot, but that helicopters can’t land in smoky areas, so they couldn’t use any place in the park. He said they don’t use tanks anyway, but they did make use of the hydrant system in the park. He added that the LAFD was “well prepared”, and made valiant efforts.

I’m confused. Was the Park not able to use its own water, when the system was built for just such an emergency? In the article above, Councilman LaBonge had a helicopter make a water drop at the dedication of the new water system.

But it’s disturbing, to say the least, as obviously more water was exactly what was needed.

While I was talking to Captain McKnight I mentioned that I had talked with Officer Brian Humphrey last week, and he had told me that the LAFD has only OES type 1 trucks, nothing higher. I asked the Captain what he thought about that for the city. He said, “Oh, we have type 3 trucks. They’re called “brush patrol,” and they’re more like pickup trucks, with much less water, and only 3 crew members.” He said they’re used for small spot fires, after the major fire. I said, Oh, Officer Humphrey had given me different information.

After I hung up, I reread what commenter Scott had said: that “brush patrols” are not considered to be type 4 trucks. So decide for yourself. I think they need more trucks better suited for forest wildlands, but that’s just my opinion.