Second LA County evacuation alert sent in error

A second erroneous evacuation alert was sent overnight Friday to residents in areas unaffected by the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County.

Around 4 a.m. on Friday, a second emergency alert message was sent to phones across the county and some in San Bernardino County urging recipients to be prepared to evacuate, when it was only intended for people near the Kenneth Fire.

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The alert came after a similar error Thursday, when around 4 p.m. an emergency alert intended for residents near the Kenneth Fire, burning in West Hills, was mistakenly sent to cell phones throughout Los Angeles, including in downtown Los Angeles, the South Bay, the Westside and Orange County. A "correction" alert, including the blaring tone, was issued a few minutes later, explaining that the warning was specifically for a fire burning in the West Hills area, not to the entire county's nearly 10 million residents.

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Kevin McGowan, director of the county Office of Emergency Management, said that the alerts are not a result of human error.

“There is no one sitting at a desk right now initiating emergency alerts,'' McGowan said Friday morning during a news briefing. “They are not being activated or initiated by a person.''

This type of firefighting airplane is known as a “super scooper” for its capability to hold water to drop on fires

He advised anyone who receives an emergency alert to confirm the accuracy using alertla.org, lacounty.gov/emergency or by calling 211.

“I implore everyone to not disable the messages on your phone,” McGowan said. “This is extremely frustrating, painful and scary, but these alert tools have saved lives during this emergency. Not receiving an alert can be a consequence of life and death.''

McGowan said that solving this problem is currently his top priority.

“I am working, all hands on deck, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning team,” McGowan said. “We have every technical specialist working to resolve this issue and to find the root cause.