LOS ANGELES >> Two federal judges who lost their Pacific Palisades homes in the January firestorm have joined hundreds of their neighbors in suing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, claiming the utility failed to properly prepare for the wildfire and respond when it broke out.

U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson, who currently sits on the Central District of California’s court, and Vijay “Jay” Gandhi, who served as a magistrate judge in the same court, filed the lawsuit last week along with their families.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that the Palisades conflagration “was caused by both LADWP’s water and power assets, specifically empty reservoirs and energized powerlines.”

The lawsuit cites reporting from The Times that found the DWP’s Santa Ynez Reservoir, located in the Palisades, sat empty during the firefight, having been closed months prior for repairs.

“Despite dire warnings by the National Weather Service of a ‘Particularly Dangerous Condition-Red Flag Warning,’ of ‘critical fire weather’ which had the potential for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, the LADWP was unprepared for the Palisades fire,” the complaint said.

A request for comment from L.A.-based law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, hired by DWP to handle Palisades fire litigation, was not immediately answered. The department’s most recent statement about pending litigation said it expects plaintiffs to continue to join such lawsuits, but it dismissed claims that the utility provider wasn’t prepared and could be held responsible for the fire.

“While our crews and system were prepared for situations that might strain the system, no urban water system is designed to combat a massive, wind-driven wildfire of the speed and scale presented by the historically destructive Palisades Fire,” the statement said, an explanation that several experts have backed up.

The utility also said that “long settled law and precedent prevent water utilities, and their rate payers, from being liable for wildfire losses.”

The current and former federal judges who filed the suit as residents, not in any official capacity, disagree with that line of defense. One judgesworked as a mediator in prior fire settlements between Pacific Gas & Electric and residents.

Distributed by Tribune News Service.