Fire hydrants stopped pumping water during the Almeda Fire

With water running at near maximum capacity all day as crews tried to fight the flames, fire crews couldn't get water from fire hydrants late Tuesday night.

Slow the spread wasn't available.

A worst-case scenario for crews on scene.

7:32 bustard says, "i've never seen a circumstance like we had that day."

Around 11 p-m on september 8-th, the well literally ran dry.

When bustard and his crew went to connect a hose to a fire hydrant-- no water came out.

3:27 bustard says, "the hydrant would be working and a few minutes to hours later, uh, there would just be no water.

The hydrants were going empty."

6:54 bustard says, "it's extremely rare.

But everywhere they went, fire fighters met the same result.

4:59 bustard says, "now you have not just one structure, but you have multiple structures and all this grassy area woods, you name it, going on fire.

And we have no water."

The loss of water pressure has a few explanations.

One factor: buildings that burned left open plumbing with nothing to stop their water lines from flowing.

More than 23-hundred homes and businesses burned.

Another factor: the talent-ashland-phoenix intertie pipeline that supplies talent and phoenix water from the medford water commission.

The commission says it was able to supply the water needed by the pump station that supplies talent and phoenix their water.

The pump station is able pump out about 4000 gallons per minute.

On average, fire hydrants in fire district 5 use about 850 gallons of water per minute.

Four open hydrants would have taken the rationed water flow for phoenix; a fifth hydrant would deplete it.

And finally, with water constantly running for the whole day at near maximum capacity, the city's water reservoir appeared depleted by 11 p-m.

Bustard says, "i know it was very hard for the community when