Majority of Faulty Los Angeles Hydrants Repaired or Replaced

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has fixed or replaced the vast majority of fire hydrants flagged for repairs in last year's inspections after a long delay by the L.A. Fire Department in forwarding the inspection results, officials confirmed this week.

The LAFD — which is contracted to annually inspect 66,000 fire hydrants across the city — had identified at least 1,350 hydrants in need of repair, according to its 2024 inspection.

But the department did not properly transmitted the data to DWP in August, a lapse that came to light only after the Palisades fire when LAFD shared its year-old inspection data with KCBS-TV. DWP finally received the data Feb. 14.

"The report we received on [ Feb. 14] was completely different than the report we received in August," DWP Chief Executive and Chief Engineer Janisse Quiñones said at a Board of Power and Water Commissioners meeting in late February. "That was the first time we saw the 'needs repair.'"

Once DWP's staff received the list of 1,350 hydrants, the utility dispatched crews across the city. As of Tuesday, the utility had addressed 1,289 hydrants, according to data shared by Ellen Cheng, a DWP spokesperson.

Of those, the utility replaced 148 hydrants and performed minor repairs on 805 hydrants. Six hydrants were functioning but needed water to be turned on at a nearby valve, while 186 hydrants did not require repairs despite being tagged as potentially damaged.

An additional 143 hydrants on LAFD's list were privately owned and fell outside DWP's purview to fix.

While firefighters struggled with low water pressure during the Palisades fire, it's unclear whether the damaged hydrants played a role.

In recent weeks — after the fiasco over the fire hydrant inspection data — LAFD has changed how frequently it alerts DWP to damaged fixtures.

Quiñones had said that she was working with interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva on a new "quality control" process "so that we don't have missteps like this in the future."

Joe Ramallo, chief of communications and customer service for DWP, said the fire inspectors send a new list of hydrants needing repairs every one to two weeks based on the findings of recent inspections.

Those inspections have flagged at least 300 hydrants in need of repairs, which are ongoing, Ramallo said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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