Congress members want explanation for false evacuation alarms

Traffic flows along Pacific Coast Highway on Monday, February 3, 2025. (Photo by David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

A group of Southland congressional representatives joined the call Monday for answers about what caused evacuation warnings to be mistakenly sent to thousands of residents during the height of last month's wildfires.

Led by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, more than a dozen congressional representatives signed letters that were sent to Los Angeles County and its notification-systems software operator, Genasys Inc., along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission.

"As members of Congress representing Los Angeles County, we write regarding erroneous emergency alerts issued during the recent deadly wildfires," the letters stated. "In life-safety emergencies, appropriately timed, targeted, and clear emergency alert messages can mean the difference between life and death. However, unclear messages sent to the wrong locations, multiple times and after the emergency has passed, can lead to alerting fatigue and erosion of public trust. In this time of intense grief, loss, and dislocation, we are working to learn all of the lessons of the past weeks, and to swiftly implement reforms to ensure they never happen again."

The letters requested a response no later than April 1.

Last week, the county Board of Supervisors voted to conduct an independent review of the emergency notification system.

The system came under fire in the early days of the Los Angeles-area firestorm when several erroneous alerts were sent to cell phones countywide telling residents they were in an evacuation area. Those alerts were intended to be sent to residents near the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills area, but they instead went to millions of residents, including some in Orange County.

Authorities at the time called it a technology issue, not human error.

The Los Angeles Times reported that residents in the Altadena area west of Lake Avenue did not receive any emergency evacuation orders until roughly nine hours after the Eaton Fire erupted, despite the blaze burning uncontrollably and spreading rapidly due to fierce Santa Ana winds. According to The Times, sheriff's deputies driving the neighborhoods in their cars were using loudspeakers to urge people to evacuate the area west of Lake Avenue around 2 a.m. that morning, but an evacuation alert wasn't sent to residents until nearly 3:30 a.m.

All 17 people known to have died thus far in the Eaton Fire lived west of Lake Avenue, the paper reported.

In their motion, county Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath called for an external, independent analysis of the emergency alert systems used by the county.

"Our board is committed to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement in the face of increasingly severe natural disasters," Barger said in a statement. "This independent assessment will also ensure we are better prepared for future disasters and can act swiftly to protect lives and property."

Horvath added: "Our communities affected by the Palisades, Eaton, and all other fires deserve a transparent and full accounting of everything that occurred. Los Angeles County is committed to understanding every aspect of these events to ensure we are continually improving our emergency management practices and better protecting our residents."

The motion called for the board to receive a progress report every 90 days until the full review is completed.