(VIDEO) LAFD Chief Claims ‘We Weren’t Aware’ Santa Ynez Reservoir was Empty… For Almost One Full Year

Reporter: “Were you aware that there was no water there?” Fire Chief Crowley; “No, we weren’t aware of that.”

A rather troubling headline from the New York Post published on 14 Jan, 2025, in regard to the Santa Ynez Reservoir (emphasis mine);

Drained LA reservoir in worst fire-ravaged area has repeatedly needed repairs, sat empty since Feb. 2024: report

Sooo, for the past 11-and-a-half months, a fairly large and important body of water has literally disappeared… and no one noticed?

Really?? YGBFKM.

Anyone stupid enough to buy off on that is possibly the same gullible type of fool who still believes Hunter Biden’s laptop is a Russian intel op.

But digging just a bit deeper into the NY Post article, you’ll never believe why this particular reservoir was shut down, then emptied;

The supply system, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), had been sitting empty since February 2024 due to pending repairs to its floating cover.

Time for the Inland Empire to get statehood.

But the cover, which is designed to keep the water free of contaminants, also required repairs just two years earlier, according to regulatory filings obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

I have just three rhetorical questions;

  • How hard is it to fold up this floating cover, move it to a large, flat area, then make the repairs?
  • What kind of “contaminants”? Things like birdshit? I really don’t care if there’s infinitesimally small amount seagull feces in the water that’s putting out a runaway wildfire.
  • When was the last time you saw a cover on a reservoir?

With all that said, please take a gander at a couple of screenshots of the northwest corner of the greater Los Angeles County area.

Allow me to preface that anyone who’s as much as flown over California realizes that firebreaks are quite the common sight. The vast majority of those same firebreaks are also open to the general public as recreational hiking trails.

Below is a map showing the Santa Ynez (now empty) Reservoir and the distance to the LAFD Station 23. Click here for a larger map.

Now we come to a close-up of the Santa Ynez (now empty) Reservoir in relation to the thin gray lines denoting both the Santa Ynez Canyon Trail and also the Trailer Canyon Fire Road and Trailhead. Click here for a larger map.