Water experts dismissed Trump’s claims that California water policy is to blame for dry hydrants. But Los Angeles is also unprepared for the age of urban wildfires.

As wildfires roar into residential neighborhoods, firefighters in California and elsewhere are finding that water systems can’t keep up with the demand.

Though wildfires have always happened, warming global temperatures are making them more frequent and severe. For instance, scientists calculated last year that our overheating planet has contributed to a 172% increase in areas burned by wildfires in California since the 1970s.

For some 15 hours as wildfires spiraled out of control in Los Angeles, the public water system faced four times its usual demand, causing some hydrants to run dry and hindering the fight against the flames,

We had tremendous demand on our systems in the Palisades,” Quiñones said. “We pushed the system to the extreme. Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight.”