After millions got false fire warnings, L.A. County's emergency alert system faces scrutiny
Good morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
If you live in Los Angeles County, there's a good chance your phone blared and buzzed just before 4 p.m. on Jan. 9, informing you that an 'EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area' due to the fires burning across the region.
I was on the phone with a climate scientist (who was explaining that we have to coexist with fire if we want to live in L.A.) when I got the alert. It was a shock, especially since I live about 15 miles from the closest blaze.
'Gather loved ones, pets, and supplies,' the alert advised. After a moment of panic, I looked out my office window, where I could see the smoke plume from the Eaton fire a good distance away. I quickly checked the county's evacuation map; no warning zones close to us.
So I continued with the interview. Just as I finished, my phone lit up again: 'Disregard last EVACUATION WARNING. It was for Kenneth Fire Only.' That blaze was burning on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley near Woodland Hills and Calabasas.
'Well, someone screwed up,' I and millions of fellow county residents said in unison after a quick sigh of relief.
The next day, county officials acknowledged the error.
'Our preliminary investigation indicates that an accurate, correctly-targeted alert went out from LA County's Emergency Operations Center at around 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 9,' the county said in a statement. 'However, after it left the EOC, the alert was erroneously sent out to nearly 10 million residents across the County.'
Those false alarms sparked panic, but it wasn't the only issue that plagued L.A. County's emergency alert system while the firestorms raged last month. As embers rained down on western Altadena overnight Jan. 7 into Jan. 8, evacuation orders were delayed by several hours.
All 17 people confirmed dead in that fire lived in western Altadena.
'When flames erupted from Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7, neighborhoods on Altadena's eastside got evacuation orders at 7:26 p.m.,' Times national correspondent Jenny Jarvie wrote this week. 'But residents on the westside did not receive orders until 3:25 a.m. — hours after fires began to blaze through their neighborhoods.'
Now an inquiry by local U.S. House members, led by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), aims to understand what went wrong.
Letters requesting information have been sent to L.A. County officials, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and Genasys Inc., the software company contracted to issue the county's emergency alerts. More than a dozen members of L.A.'s congressional delegation signed the letters.
'In life-safety emergencies, appropriately timed, targeted, and clear emergency alert messages can mean the difference between life and death,' House Democrats wrote, according to an excerpt shared by Garcia's office. 'However, unclear messages sent to the wrong locations, multiple times and after the emergency has passed, can lead to alerting fatigue and erosion of public trust. In this time of intense grief, loss, and dislocation, we are working to learn all of the lessons of the past weeks, and to swiftly implement reforms to ensure they never happen again.'
Though the letters don't mention the delayed alerts sent to some Altadena residents, Garcia told The Times that the issue will be part of the investigation.
'I don't think that we should underestimate how serious of a massive disaster this was in a moment of a serious emergency,' Garcia told Jenny. 'We know that other emergencies are going to happen again. ... We use this system for more than just fires. If there's another emergency, a natural disaster, and some type of notification that needs to go out, the public needs to know that the system is working correctly.'
The day after the erroneous alerts were sent, L.A. County officials announced they had suspended their alert system managed by Genasys and switched to a system operated by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
The House investigation isn't the only probe in the works to scrutinize the fire response.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last month called for an independent investigation into why fire hydrants lost pressure or ran dry in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, along with why the Santa Ynez Reservoir was offline and empty when the Palisades fire broke out.
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