The Los Angeles Fire Department erroneously sent an evacuation warning text message alert to all of Los Angeles County on Thursday afternoon, inflicting more panic and confusion on an already traumatized public coping with the most damaging fires in Los Angeles history.
The text message was sent at approximated 3:57 PM Pacific time to residents throughout Los Angeles County. It stated: “NEW: This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area. Remain vigilant of any threats and be ready to evacuate. Gather loved ones, pets, and supplies. Continue to monitor local weather, news, and the webpage alertla.org for more information.”
It was quickly noted on social media that the warning was sent to the entire county.
Eventually, the LA City Emergency Management Department’s X account issued a correction noting that the alert was sent in error.
This writer received the erroneous alert on my phone, but I have yet to receive the text message correction, though it has apparently been issued to some residents.
This lack of a quick correction via the same mechanism that the erroneous alert was sent adds further stress to residents who may not be on social media to see the new notice. In fact, residents are more likely to be heeding the erroneous alert’s instructions and gathering their “loved ones, pets, and supplies” in preparation to flee their homes.
The Los Angeles County response to the fires has been plagued by confusion, chaos, and a lack of reliable and consistent information from government sources. At a press conference Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), who was in Ghana this week when the most damaging fire in her city’s history erupted, told desperate residents that they could go to “URL” to find assistance.
“If you need help, emergency information, resources, and shelter is available,” Bass said. “All of this can be found at URL.”
“Los Angeles, together is how we will get through this,” she concluded without correcting her error or supply the public with the correct source of information.
Los Angeles County residents have been relying for information on an app called Watch Duty created by a non-profit using data from government sources and volunteers. The app “added 600,000 users in the last 24 hours seeking real-time updates and critical information. The app, run by a nonprofit, relies on hundreds of volunteers including active and retired firefighters to provide accurate and timely information,” Breitbart News’s Lucas Nolan reported.
It’s unclear why the actual city and state government authorities were not able to create a similar app to coordinate information in life and death situations like the current one.
The multiple simultaneous wildfires this week have burned over 33,000 acres in the Los Angeles area, destroyed tens of thousands of structures, killed at least seven people, caused over 170,000 people to evacuate their homes, left nearly one million residents without power, and inflicted over $52 billion in damage thus far. The worst of the fires have zero containment and continue to expand into new areas, sparking new fires, as the red flag weather warning from the Santa Ana winds continues through Friday.
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