About Those False Alarms: 2 Have Now Gone Out, The Latest Jarring Many Awake at 4 a.m.
This article was originally published on Jan. 10, 2025 on laist.com.
Fires are raging across Los Angeles, with new ones starting up at any moment's notice.
Angelenos have been glued to their phones for the latest alerts and information.
At around 4 p.m. Thursday — everyone in L.A. County received an alert from the Office of Emergency Management to prepare for evacuation. Then, about 12 hours later, another widespread alert was issued at 4 a.m. startling many people out of their beds.
When the first error took place, when you tried to click through to see what it was about, you probably couldn't. Also scary. In the second false alarm, the click through was related to the Palisades Fire.
Kevin McGowan, who heads L.A. Office of Emergency Management, apologized for the erroneous messages at a Friday morning news conference, saying they were not sent by an individual. He also asked people not to turn off their alerts.
L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she was frustrated by the false alarms and promised the county would address the issue.
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The first false alarm
It went to phones in Torrance, Rancho Palos Verdes, Long Beach, and even Catalina Island. And apparently, in Newport Beach.
One of our colleagues was walking in downtown Los Angeles and reports everyone's phones started screaming at the same time. It was surreal.
Amid the general hellscape reality we've been living, it was also quite frightening.
Minutes later, another alert was sent to correct the mistake, saying the original message was meant for those in West Hills, for the new Kenneth Fire. It was just as loud and jarring.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said via Xthat the notice was "sent in error by the Los Angeles County Fire Department."
The second false alarm
This time, no screaming follow up message. It was 4:24 a.m. after all. L.A. County officials issued a notification nearly three hours later acknowledged the error, saying they were working with FEMA "to investigate the issue."
And they pointed folks to maps at AlertLA.org to fact check the current status. [Note: at 7:30 a.m. no map was rendering on that page.]
Some other places to check:
Some perspective
We just want to say: These kind of things happen. Although twice now feels like a lot.
That said, the region is dealing with unprecedented circumstances of unrelenting winds, many fires, and people who are doing their best to keep us safe and informed. Being fast can save lives — although maybe a tiny pause could have prevented millions of moments of panic.
And we ask you to consider this, for comparison. It's not like an alert was sent warning people to seek shelter from an incoming ballistic missile or anything.
That happened in Hawaii in 2018.
Robert Garrova contributed to this report.
