Susan Shelley: California regulations only make wildfires worse

On Thursday morning at the White House, President Joe Biden told reporters he talked to Gov. Gavin Newsom about fire hydrants running dry as fires raged out of control across Los Angeles County.

The president said he learned that it’s not a water shortage that’s causing the problem. “The fact is, the utilities understandably shut off power because they’re worried the lines that carry the energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires,” Biden said. “When they did that, it cut off the ability to generate pumping the water.”

“That’s what caused the lack of water in these hydrants,” Biden continued, “and so CalFire is bringing in generators to get these pumps up and working again so that there’s no longer a shortage of water comin’ out of these hydrants.”

The president is mixed up. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said it was able to fuel its back-up generators to move water. The problem in Pacific Palisades is that LADWP infrastructure couldn’t move enough water to refill three 1 million-gallon water tanks as fast as firefighters were using the water.

But there is a problem in California with emergency back-up generators. Air quality regulations limit their use, and some water agencies found that they could not adequately run their generators for testing.

So when power utilities began their policy of “public safety power shutoffs” in 2019, water agencies went to the state Legislature pleading for a law that would exempt them from air quality regulations that limited the use of emergency back-up generators. They explained that water pumps run on electricity. They explained that without reliable generators, they would not be able to provide critical water service when the power was turned off due to the risk of fires, or because fires were already raging.

In 2020, Senate Bill 1099 was introduced by Senators Bill Dodd and Steve Glazer, both Democrats, joined by a co-author, Republican Sen. John Moorlach. SB 1099 required air districts to give water agencies an exemption from rules that limited the use of emergency back-up generators to something like 200 hours per year and only allowed their use during actual emergencies. These rules blocked necessary testing of the equipment before an emergency occurred, something the water agencies thought was rather important.

SB 1099 was opposed by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association. The bill passed in the Senate but quickly died in the Assembly.

Air quality regulators have also thrown obstacles in the way of prescribed burns, a fire mitigation practice that once was routinely used to reduce the fuel for wildfires and create defensible spaces for firefighters. In 2000, the California Air Resources Board adopted  burdensome smoke regulations that made prescribed burns difficult. Within 10 years, wildfires were breaking records like a homerun hitter on steroids.

That’s what led to the public safety power shut-offs. Because of a legal concept called “inverse condemnation,” investor-owned utilities that are allowed to run power lines across property they don’t own are financially responsible for all the damage caused by a fire that is started by their equipment.

This worked for a long time. The companies had insurance, and if the damages exceeded their coverage, the California Public Utilities Commission would allow the utilities to recoup their losses with small monthly charges on customers’ bills.

Until they didn’t.

In the fall of 2017, the CPUC shocked the markets by refusing a request from San Diego Gas & Electric to recover $379 million in uninsured costs for damages from three severe wildfires in 2007. SDG&E asked to be allowed to charge customers an average of $1.67 per month for six years.

The CPUC said no. Massive fires were then burning in Northern California, including the deadly Tubbs fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties, which at the time was the most destructive wildfire in state history.

SDG&E went to court to fight the CPUC’s decision, and when their last appeal failed, public safety power shutoffs were introduced. Utilities don’t want the liability for an out-of-control fire on a windy day.

Air quality regulations limiting generators and controlled fires have actually contributed to the problem of wildfires becoming ever larger and more destructive. The South Coast Air Quality Management District covers four Southern California counties including Los Angeles, and it imposes ever stricter rules to meet targets for fine particulates, like soot, in the air.

If President Biden truly wanted to help California, he’d waive federal standards for particulate matter in the air when the source of those particles is equipment or activity aimed at preventing huge fires.

Hydrants can run dry during a fire for many reasons, including broken pipes and melted power lines. But more can be done to assure that when they do, back-up water sources are ready.

In August 2023, LAist published a “How You Can Help Firefighters” article that quoted former fire officials about how property owners can provide back-up water for firefighters. “It requires a whole lot of space and plenty of advance planning,” wrote Jacob Margolis, but swimming pools and water tanks can be helpful when hydrants fail.

It’s not unprecedented. During the Northridge earthquake, firefighters drew water from a swimming pool to save homes that were on fire after a gas line exploded.

Will public officials inform California homeowners about how backyard swimming pools can help during a fire? Don’t hold your breath. Even suggesting that water can help put out fires might be seen as improperly encouraging water use.

And before some of them will admit that an engine running on fossil fuels is a great thing that can save lives and property, they’ll watch the entire state of California burn to the ground.

It’s not climate change that’s making fires worse. It’s policy.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X@Susan_Shelley