Los Angeles officials mistakenly sent out an evacuation alert to the entirety of Los Angeles County on Thursday evening as wildfires continued to destroy homes and other properties.
Residents received a text “from the Los Angeles County Fire Department” informing them that an “EVACUATION WARNING” was “issued in your area,” meaning they had to immediately evacuate with their family, pets, and supplies, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
But the Los Angeles City Emergency Management Department was forced to admit that the mass text was sent “in error.”
“Evacuation orders have not changed,” the agency said on social media, adding that residents should visit an official website to view actual “evacuation orders for some selected areas, ONLY!”
Recent @ReadyLACounty alert to evacuate was sent in ERROR. Evacuation orders have not changed. See map for actual @LACity evacuation orders for some selected areas, ONLY! https://t.co/qRYmG0qWS7
— LA City Emergency Management Department (@ReadyLA) January 10, 2025
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn also clarified on social media that “the evacuation warning that many of us just received on our phones was mistakenly issued countywide due to a technical error.”
I have been informed the evacuation warning that many of us just received on our phones was mistakenly issued countywide due to a technical error.
A correction will be issued shortly.
— Janice Hahn (@SupJaniceHahn) January 10, 2025
Other officials likewise apologized for the mistake, which provoked panic among some residents living close to the fires, according to the Times.
“I can’t express enough how sorry I am for this experience,” Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, remarked Friday during a news conference.
Would it be better for Los Angeles leaders to resign once the fire is contained, or right now, in the middle of the disaster?
Once Contained: 0% (0 Votes)
Right Now: 0% (0 Votes)
“As these alerts are being issued, they are not being activated or initiated by a person,” he added, vowing to resolve the error.
“Right now, our No. 1 priority is to establish how we can work, in coordination with our federal and state partners, how we can stop the messages that are going out right now that are not being initiated by human action,” McGowan continued.
This mistaken emergency alert is only the latest in an extended series of errors from Los Angeles officials as they scramble to put out the blazes.
Beyond a failure to proactively conduct controlled burns and implement other reasonable land management practices well before the current round of wildfires, the Los Angeles County Fire Department previously sent a bunch of firefighting equipment to the war in Ukraine.
The agency also had a “racial equity plan” to assist with diversity efforts and carefully monitored the racial identities of their employees to ensure hiring practices were inclusive enough.
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley has also been touted as the “first female and LGBTQ Fire Chief” in department history.
The entire fiasco in Los Angeles proves that deprioritizing merit and elevating identity markers in jobs that require the handling of complex systems will always result in disaster.
As if we did not already have ample proof of that.
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