Capt. Kevin Easton and his firefighting team had already spent hours battling an out-of-control fire sweeping through Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades area, leaving gutted homes in its wake. Then, around midnight, their water lines started to sputter. Before long, the hydrants had run dry.

凱文·伊斯頓隊長和他的消防隊花了幾個小時與席卷洛杉磯太平洋帕利塞德地區(qū)的失控大火搏斗，大火過后，房屋被燒得面目全非。在午夜左右，他們的水管出水變小。沒過多久，消防栓就斷水了。

“Completely dry — couldn’t get any water out of it,” said Captain Easton, who was part of a small, roaming patrol of firefighters who were trying to protect the community’s Palisades Highlands neighborhood. Even on Wednesday afternoon — hours after the hydrants had gone dry — there was still no water. Houses in the Highlands burned, becoming part of the more than 5,000 structures destroyed by the Palisades fire so far.

“完全干了，一點水也沒有，”伊斯頓說，他的這支小型巡邏消防隊正在努力保護帕利塞茲高地社區(qū)。直到周三下午，在消防栓干涸幾個小時后，仍然沒有水。高地的房屋被燒毀，成為迄今為止被帕利塞德大火摧毀的5000多座建筑物的一部分。
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Officials now say the storage tanks that hold water for high-elevation areas like the Highlands, and the pumping systems that feed them, could not keep pace with the demand as the fire raced from one neighborhood to another. That was in part because those who designed the system did not account for the stunning speeds at which multiple fires would race through the Los Angeles area this week.

官員們表示，隨著大火從一個社區(qū)蔓延到另一個社區(qū)，為高地等高海拔地區(qū)蓄水的儲水罐和抽水系統(tǒng)無法滿足需求。這在一定程度上是因為，設計該系統(tǒng)的人沒有考慮到本周洛杉磯地區(qū)多處火災蔓延的驚人速度。
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“We are looking at a situation that is just completely not part of any domestic water system design,” said Marty Adams, a former general manager and chief engineer at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is responsible for delivering water to nearly four million residents of Los Angeles.Municipal water systems are designed for firefighters to tap into multiple hydrants at once, allowing them to maintain a steady flow of water for crews who may be trying to protect a large structure or a handful of homes. But these systems can buckle when wildfires, such as those fueled by the dry brush that surrounds Los Angeles’s hillside communities, rage through entire neighborhoods.

“我們正面臨的情況完全不符合任何生活用水系統(tǒng)的設計，”洛杉磯水電局前總經(jīng)理兼總工程師馬蒂·亞當斯說。該局負責向洛杉磯近400萬居民供水。
市政供水系統(tǒng)是專為消防員同時接入多個消防栓而設計的，以便為試圖保護大型建筑物或少數(shù)住宅的消防隊保持穩(wěn)定的水流。但是，當野火（例如洛杉磯山坡社區(qū)周圍的干燥灌木引發(fā)的火情）肆虐整個社區(qū)時，這些系統(tǒng)就會出現(xiàn)問題。

As urban growth spreads into wilderness areas around the country and climate change brings more challenging fire conditions, an increasing number of cities have confronted a sudden loss of water available for firefighting, most recently in Talent, Ore.; Gatlinburg, Tenn.; and Ventura County, Calif.The problem can be especially acute during high-wind conditions, like those Los Angeles experienced this week, when firefighting aircraft could not safely make their usual aerial drops of water and fire retardant.

隨著城市發(fā)展向全國各地的荒野地區(qū)蔓延，以及氣候變化帶來更具挑戰(zhàn)性的火災情況，越來越多的城市面臨著可用于消防的水突然減少的問題，最近在俄勒岡州的塔蘭特、田納西州的加特林堡以及加州文圖拉縣都出現(xiàn)了這種情況。
這個問題在大風條件下尤其嚴重，本周的洛杉磯就是如此，消防飛機無法安全地進行通常的空中灑水和阻燃劑投放。

In Louisville, Colo., as firefighters were nearing depletion of water supplies in 2022, crews took the extraordinary step of pushing untreated water through the system. In 2023, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, firefighters battling a wildfire found their hydrants running dry as flames churned through the community of Lahaina, killing 102 people in the country’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century.

2022年，在科羅拉多州路易斯維爾，當消防隊員的供水即將耗盡時，工作人員采取了非常措施，將未經(jīng)處理的水引入系統(tǒng)。2023年，與野火搏斗的消防員發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的消防栓已經(jīng)干涸，火焰在拉海納社區(qū)肆虐，造成102人死亡，成為美國一個多世紀以來最致命的野火。

In that case, firefighters were confronted with many homes and pipes being destroyed simultaneously, causing water to gush across yards and streets when firefighters needed it in their hydrants.

在這種情況下，消防員要面對許多房屋和管道同時被毀的情況，在他們正需要使用消防栓時，水卻在庭院和街道噴涌。

Municipal water systems like the one in Los Angeles are designed to handle heavy loads, including those from large fires that might require multiple fire trucks to tap into the system at the same time.

像洛杉磯這樣的市政供水系統(tǒng)的設計需要處理極大負荷，包括可能需要多輛消防車同時接入系統(tǒng)的大型火災。

Getting water to the upper reaches of hillside communities like Pacific Palisades can be a challenge. There, water is collected in a reservoir that pumps into three high-elevation storage tanks, each with a capacity of about one million gallons. Water then flows by gravity into homes and fire hydrants.

把水送到太平洋帕利塞茲這樣的山坡社區(qū)的頂部可能是一個挑戰(zhàn)。在那里，水被收集在一個蓄水池中，再通過水泵輸送到三個高位儲水箱，每個儲罐的容量約為100萬加侖。然后水在重力作用下流入家庭和消防栓。

But the pump-and-storage system was designed for a fire that might consume several homes, not one that would consume hundreds, said Mr. Adams, the former leader of the city’s water department.

但是，該市水務局前負責人亞當斯說，抽水存蓄系統(tǒng)考慮的是可能燒毀幾戶人家的火災，而不是數(shù)百戶人家。

“If this is going to be a norm, there is going to have to be some new thinking about how systems are designed,” he said.

他說：“如果這將成為一種常態(tài)，就必須對如何設計系統(tǒng)有一些新的思考。”

Ahead of this week’s dangerous weather conditions, the storage tanks above Pacific Palisades and other hillside communities affected by the fires were filled to capacity, officials said. But as the Palisades fire spread on Tuesday, the first tank there was quickly depleted. Hours later, the second one was empty. The third one was drained by Wednesday morning.

官員們說，在本周危險的天氣條件到來之前，太平洋帕利塞茲和其他受火災影響的山坡社區(qū)上方的儲水罐是滿的。但隨著周二帕利塞德大火的蔓延，那里的第一個儲水罐很快就用光了。幾個小時后，第二個也空了。第三個儲水管在周三早上被抽干。

Janisse Qui?ones, the chief executive and chief engineer at the city’s water department, said so much water was being pulled from the main water line during the fire that there was less water available to pump up toward the storage tanks.

該市水務局首席執(zhí)行官兼總工程師亞尼塞·奎諾內(nèi)斯表示，火災期間，大量的水從主水管中被抽走，因此可供泵入儲水罐的水越來越少。

The supply of water ended up being only one of several challenges, as fire crews across Los Angeles County were overwhelmed by fires on so many fronts. In the Altadena area, where the Eaton fire burned through more than 13,000 acres and as many as 5,000 structures, firefighters also dealt with strains to the water system, but Chad Augustin, the chief of the nearby Pasadena Fire Department, said crews could not have stopped the fire’s early spread even with more water.

水的供應只是諸多挑戰(zhàn)中的一個，整個洛杉磯縣的消防人員都被眾多前線的火災壓得喘不過氣來。在阿爾塔迪納地區(qū)，伊頓大火燒毀了超過5200公頃的土地，燒毀多達5000座建筑，那里的消防隊員也面臨供水系統(tǒng)緊張問題，但附近的帕薩迪納消防局局長查德·奧古斯丁表示，即使有更多的水，消防人員也無法阻止火勢在早期的蔓延。

“Those erratic wind gusts were blowing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire, and that’s really what caused the rapid spread of this fire,” Chief Augustin said.

“那些不穩(wěn)定的陣風把余燼吹到了大火前方幾公里的地方，這才是導致火勢迅速蔓延的真正原因，”奧古斯丁說。

Rick Caruso, the real estate developer and former candidate for Los Angeles mayor who served two stints as president of the Department of Water and Power, said he had a team of private firefighters deployed in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday night, helping to protect a major outdoor retail space he owns, Palisades Village, as well as some nearby homes.

參選過洛杉磯市長的房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商里克·卡魯索曾兩次擔任水電局負責人。他說，周二晚上，他在太平洋帕利塞茲投入了一支私人消防員隊伍，幫助保護他擁有的大型戶外零售空間“帕利塞茲村”，以及附近的一些住宅。

All night, he said, the team was reporting that water was in short supply. He said it would take time to account for the supply problems, but suggested there appeared to be a shortfall in preparation.

他說，整個晚上，救援隊都在報告水供應不足。他表示，解決供應問題需要時間，但他表示，準備工作似乎不足。

“The lack of water in the hydrants — I don’t think there’s an excuse,” he said.

“消防栓缺水——我認為這不是借口，”他說。

Traci Park, the Los Angeles City Council member whose district includes Pacific Palisades, said the city’s water systems were among several pieces of critically underfunded infrastructure.

洛杉磯市議會議員特蕾西·帕克的選區(qū)包括太平洋帕利塞茲，她說該市的供水系統(tǒng)是資金嚴重不足的基礎設施之一。

“There are environmental catastrophes waiting to happen everywhere with our water mains,” she said, adding that some were a century old. “As our city has grown, we haven’t upgraded and expanded the infrastructure that we need to support it.”

她說：“我們的水管需要應付到處發(fā)生的環(huán)境災難，”她還說，有些水管已經(jīng)有一個世紀的歷史了?！半S著城市的發(fā)展，我們還沒有升級和擴大需要支持的基礎設施?！?/b>
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She also raised the issue of the complexity of battling fires that are inherently wildland blazes, sweeping into urban neighborhoods — with firefighters unable to take advantage of wildland firefighting resources, such as aerial drops, that would normally be available to them.

她還提出了一個復雜的問題，火災本質(zhì)上是野外火災蔓延到城市社區(qū)，消防員無法利用空投等通?？梢岳玫囊盎饻缁鹳Y源。

“Our firefighters were out there yesterday fighting a raging wildfire with fire engines and fire hydrants — that’s not how you fight a wildfire,” she said.

“我們的消防隊員昨天在用消防車和消防栓撲滅一場肆虐的野火，這不是撲滅野火的方式，”她說。

Greg Pierce, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies water resources and urban planning, echoed the concerns over water systems that are designed for urban fires, not fast-moving wildfires. But redesigning water systems to allow firefighters to take on a broad wildfire would be enormously expensive, he said.

加州大學洛杉磯分校研究水資源和城市規(guī)劃的研究員格雷格·皮爾斯也表達了對供水系統(tǒng)的擔憂，這些系統(tǒng)是為城市火災設計的，而不是為快速移動的野火設計的。但他說，重新設計供水系統(tǒng)以使消防員能夠應對大面積的野火需要巨額資金。

A more fundamental question, he said, is whether it’s a good idea to rebuild neighborhoods adjacent to wildlands, an issue that has been broadly debated across the West as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of fires on what is known as the wildland-urban interface.

他說，一個更根本的問題是，重建鄰近野外的社區(qū)是否是個好主意。隨著氣候變化增加了所謂的荒地與城市交界地帶發(fā)生火災的頻率和強度，這個問題在整個西部都引起了廣泛的爭論。

Captain Easton, the 19-year fire department veteran who helped battle the Pacific Palisades blaze, said that there were other complications in addition to water supply, such as delays in getting additional support crews from other areas to the scene.

幫助撲滅太平洋帕利塞德大火的伊斯頓在消防部門工作了19年。他說，除了供水之外，還有其他一些復雜的問題，比如從其他地區(qū)調(diào)來額外的支援人員的工作出現(xiàn)延誤。
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Los Angeles’s water and power department had sent trucks with additional water tanks to the area, he said, but they were in stationary positions, meaning firefighters had to go retrieve the water and bring it back to the fire.

他說，洛杉磯的供水和電力部門已經(jīng)派出裝有額外水箱的卡車前往該地區(qū)，但它們的位置是固定的，這意味著消防員必須去取水并將其帶回火場。

“That causes problems too, because you get 500 gallons of water and you’ve got a house that’s on fire, you knock it down a lot and then you’ve got to go back and get refilled,” he said.

“這也會造成問題，因為你有500加侖的水，面前是一座著火的房子，你剛把火壓下去不少，然后又得回去重新裝水，”他說。