Los Angeles emergency management issued an apology on Friday after erroneous evacuation warnings caused anxiety in a city already reeling from an unprecedented wildfire crisis.
Automated alerts telling people to prepare to evacuate rang out on millions of cell phones Thursday afternoon and again Friday early.
“This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area,” said the message, which was widely disseminated on Thursday, including to areas well away from the danger zones.
“Remain vigilant of any threats and be ready to evacuate. Gather loved ones, pets and supplies.”
Ten people have been killed and thousands of buildings have been destroyed by massive fires that have engulfed 35,000 acres in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
The alarm system was the first way that many Angelenos learned about the fires and the urgency to flee.
There are currently mandatory evacuation orders in place for about 153,000 individuals throughout the region.
Twenty minutes later, a correction was sent out, clarifying that the alarm had only been sent for the new Kenneth Fire, which was bursting north of the city.
However, about 4 a.m. on Friday, a similar false message was distributed.
Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, said the automated errors had caused “frustration, anger (and) fear.”
“I can’t express enough how sorry I am,” he told reporters.
McGowan said he was working with specialists to find out what had gone wrong and why so many people were sent messages that did not apply to them.
“I implore everyone to not disable the messages on your phone,” he said.
“This is extremely frustrating, painful and scary, but these alert tools have saved lives during these emergencies.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the error was “unacceptable.”
“I want to express my deep frustration with the alert system that is causing confusion and additional panic for our communities at this time of extreme crisis,” she said.
“Whatever the cause, it is unacceptable.”
Chris Sheach, assistant professor in disaster management at Paul Smith’s College, said automated warning systems are always susceptible to “kinks and bugs,” particularly as they are rarely used at scale, but still remain vital in reducing the death toll during disasters.
“Likely it was a coding error,” that caused warnings to reach unintended recipients in the wrong area codes, he told AFP.
“The benefits far outweigh the risks. If this had been the Palisades in 1975… the only way they could evacuate people was fire trucks driving street by street with a megaphone.”
Sheach said it was important for authorities to be up front about the mistakes, so that citizens do not ignore or disable future alerts.
“Millions of these messages go out every year across the country, across the globe, to communities that are appropriate, safe, and on time,” he said.
“Because of those misses, it takes a little extra work to build the trust.”
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