Wildfires overtook Los Angeles, firefighters ran out of water, and the political finger-pointing began. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy and Travis Larchuck, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and Peter Balonon-Rosen, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members A fire hydrant burning during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles county. Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What catastrophic events occurred during the Los Angeles wildfires?
It's kind of hard to wrap your head around the scale of the catastrophic fires in Los Angeles. They've burned 40,000 acres throughout the city. That's roughly the size of Washington, D.C. Some estimates are putting the damage upwards of $250 billion. That'll make these the most... economically devastating fires in the history of the United States.
And then one thing people can't seem to get over is that in this wildfire-prone city, in a wildfire-prone state, firefighters battling these blazes somehow ran out of water.
We have no water on these streets, and we have multiple structures taken off.
Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor? That's all literally... Is it going to be different next time?
They have no water. They had no water in the fire hydrants today in Los Angeles. It was a terrible thing. And we're gonna get that done.
Everyone gets that this is tragic. On Today Explained, we're gonna try to understand why this has to be political.
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Chapter 2: Why did firefighters run out of water in Los Angeles?
But when firefighters run out of water, the pressure runs low, they go to private pools, because there's a lot of private pools in these areas, which tend to be quite wealthy. And they started to drive tanker trucks up with water to try to fight the fire.
But if they don't have water, they need to get off the ground for their own safety, get out of that area, because there's nothing they can do, and just rely purely on aerial approaches and dropping water. other types of wildfire retardants or foams.
So it's a pretty bleak picture. If they run out of water, they're basically useless, especially if there's not some truck around that's got reserves.
Yeah, and it is the, I mean, you've heard the really big frustration of the fire agency and agencies that they are entirely reliant on the water systems to provide the water. It's not like the firefighters have their own reserve of water. So they do show up and hope, pray it works. And in this case, it didn't work as well as anyone would have liked.
But again, I think in some ways that was to be expected if we were realistic about it.
I saw someone just post a map on social media of the Palisades fire, and then they circled the ocean right next to it, and they said, you know, here's some water, guys.
Why don't we just put a hose in the ocean and then spray the fire with the ocean?
Okay, can someone please explain to me why... They can't use the water from the ocean that's right by where a lot of the fire is happening to put out the fire.
For people who just can't fathom how these hydrants ran dry and they didn't just stick a straw in the ocean, what are they missing?
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Chapter 6: What were the financial implications of the wildfire damages?
We have no water on these streets, and we have multiple structures taken off.
Why was there no water in the hydrants, Governor? That's all literally... Is it going to be different next time?
They have no water. They had no water in the fire hydrants today in Los Angeles. It was a terrible thing. And we're gonna get that done.
Everyone gets that this is tragic. On Today Explained, we're gonna try to understand why this has to be political.
In every company, there's a whole system of decision makers, challenges, and strategies shaping the future of business at every level. That's why we're running a special three-part Decoder Thursday series, looking at how some of the biggest companies in the world are adapting, innovating, and rethinking their playbooks.
We're asking enterprise leaders about some of the toughest questions they're facing today, revealing the tensions, risks, and breakthroughs happening behind closed doors. Check out Decoder wherever you get your podcasts.
This special series from The Verge is presented by Adobe Express.
Hey, it's Scott Galloway. In today's marketing landscape, if you're not evolving, you're getting left behind. In some ways, it's easier than ever to reach your customers, but cutting through the noise has never been harder. So we're going to talk about it on a special PropG Office Hour series.
We'll be answering questions from C-suite execs and business leaders about how to market efficiently and effectively in today's chaotic world. So tune into PropG Office Hour special series brought to you by Adobe Express. You can find it on the PropG feed wherever you get your podcasts.
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