Evacuation Warning Alert Sent Across Los Angeles County In Error

UPDATE: After an evacuation-warning alert was sent in error across Los Angeles County Thursday afternoon, a similar — also erroneous — alert was sent at 4 a.m. Friday. That alert was sent across an unknown area.

"We are aware of the reports of erroneous messages, and we apologize for the disruption. We are working with FEMA to investigate the issue," county officials wrote on alertla.org, a site that shows the county's latest evacuation warnings and orders.

Original story below:

LOS ANGELES, CA — An emergency alert was sent across Los Angeles County Thursday afternoon warning residents that their neighborhoods were subject to an evacuation warning was sent in error, county Supervisor Janice Hahn said.

The alert was sent countywide due to a technical error, Hahn said. The alert was also sent in error widely across Orange County, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

A follow-up alert correcting the mistake was sent about 20 minutes later to LA County residents.

The alert was meant to be sent only to those within the immediate area of the Kenneth Fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon in the west San Fernando Valley.

Kevin McGowan, director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, released a statement:

"An evacuation order for residents near the Kenneth Fire currently burning in West Hills was mistakenly issued to nearly 10 million county residents along with some residents of neighboring counties. This warning was intended only for residents of Calabasas and Agoura Hills and those within the West Hills community of Los Angeles. We understand that these wildfires have created great anxiety, hardship and distress among our residents, and we are committed to sharing accurate information."

The alert included a link to alertla.org, a county landing page for information about the fires burning in LA County. But the website may have failed to load for many users, likely due to the high number of people navigating to the site at the same time from the alert.

To see if you're within the evacuation zone of the Kenneth Fire, view the county's evacuation maps here.

“It’s not a 100-percent system yet, so somebody may have pushed the wrong button,” retired Los Angeles County Fire Department captain Bob Goldman told KTLA.

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