by WorldTribune Staff, January 13, 2025 Real World News
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quinones left a nearby reservoir disconnected and knew fire hydrants were broken months in advance of the wildfires raging through the area, a report said.
Janisse Quinones / LADWP photoLos Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) insiders are blaming Quinones for firefighters running out of water to battle the devastating Palisades fire, DailyMail.com reported.
Quinones oversaw the shutdown and emptying of the Santa Ynez Reservoir in the Pacific Palisades during brushfire season, sources told DailyMail.com. The water source was empty when the Palisades inferno broke out last week.
The city, on the orders of Democrat Mayor Karen Bass, maxed out its budget to “attract private-sector talent,” hiring Quinones on a $750,000 salary in May – almost double that of her predecessor, the report said.
The report noted that Quinones’s past employer, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), is linked to fire scandals. She was previously a top executive at the electricity company which went bankrupt over liability for several massive wildfires in California. She served as senior vice president at PG&E from 2021 to 2023.
A source in the LAFD told DailyMail.com that Department of Water and Power officials told them had the Ynez Reservoir not been closed “they probably would have been ok and had enough water for the (Palisades) fire.”
At a press conference last week, Quinones said firefighters ran out of water in the Palisades due to low pressure in the system, because they were using water faster than it was being replenished.
A current senior LAFD official told DailyMail.com that some hydrants in the Palisades were not working when desperate firefighters tried to use them last week, and that they had not been fixed because of budget cuts by Bass.
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What L.A.’s $750,000 water chief knew in advance added by Editor Two on January 13, 2025
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