Los Angeles County’s emergency officials are investigating why an evacuation alert system has been sending out alerts to residents across the region in error.
The evacuation alert system is not being activated or initiated by a person, according to the county’s Director of Emergency Management Kevin McGowan.
“There is an extreme amount of frustration, anger, fear, with regards to the erroneous messages that have been being sent out through the wireless emergency alert system across LA County,” McGowan told reporters during a Jan. 10 news conference. “I can’t express enough how sorry I am for this experience.”
Residents were awakened at 4 a.m. on Friday by a message sent to their phones, instructing them to evacuate immediately due to fire danger. A similar alert had been sent on Thursday afternoon.
During Friday’s press conference, Mayor Karen Bass deflected reporters’ questions about the evacuation notices.
“We are not going to allow politics to interfere, and we’re not going to let people divide us,” Bass said.
About 153,000 residents remain under evacuation orders for the Palisades, Eton, and other fires burning in Los Angeles County, according to Sheriff Robert Luna. Another 167,000 remain under evacuation warnings.
The online maps showing which neighborhoods are under evacuation are accurate, according to the department.
“This is extremely frustrating, painful, and scary, but these alert tools have saved lives during this emergency,” McGowan said.
No one is sitting behind a desk issuing these alerts, according to the official.
The department has every specialist on staff working to resolve the issue and find the root cause, he said.
“I implore everyone to not disable the messages on your phone,” McGowan said. Not receiving an alert could be fatal, he said.
The system uses a cloud-based public alert system that connects to cell phone providers, according to McGowan.
An investigation into the alerts is underway to find out where the error is happening.
