Firefighters have been overwhelmed by this week’s major wildfires across Los Angeles County, the three largest erupting in less than 12 hours during a windstorm.

Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone said at a Wednesday news conference that there were not enough firefighters in the county to “address four separate fires of this magnitude.”

Firefighters, by Tuesday night, were battling the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires. A fourth blaze, the much smaller Woodley fire, was burning near the Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley and by Wednesday afternoon had consumed 30 acres, according to Cal Fire.

“L.A. County and all 29 fire departments in our county are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster,” Marrone said. “The L.A. County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities.

“This is not a normal red flag alert.”

A red flag alert is when weather conditions are such that a fire could easily spread rapidly.

Marrone said agencies prepared by pre-positioning resources from Northern California in the Santa Clarita Valley. Additional firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department were placed in the Santa Monica Mountains, but the fires broke out elsewhere.

The chief said he had requested mutual aid from nearby counties and additional crews from out of state by late Tuesday, all of which were on the way, Marrone said Wednesday.

That included some 50 engine strike teams from the State Office of Emergency Services, which has 250 fire engines and more than 1,000 personnel.

“We’re doing the very best we can, but no, we do not have enough fire personnel in L.A. County between all of the departments to handle this,” Marrone said.

Firefighters battling the Palisades fire also had to contend with low water pressure and ran out of water about 3 a.m. after three large water tanks, which held about 1 million gallons of water each, ran dry, said Janisse Quinones, CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

To make matters worse for firefighters on the ground, aircraft conducting water drops were grounded at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and remained that way overnight due to strong winds, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristen Crowley said.

Air resources were back in the air Wednesday morning, but firefighters were still dealing with significant wind gusts and low humidities while battling the flames, officials said.

Crowley echoed Marrone’s comments, saying the fires were “stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits.

“We are absolutely not out of the danger yet,” Crowley said.