Home » L.A. County’s evacuation alert system broke down during fires. It’s part of a larger problem – Jobsmaa.com

L.A. County’s evacuation alert system broke down during fires. It’s part of a larger problem – Jobsmaa.com

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In 2012 when the Central Govt Wireless emergency alerts — a new system that allows officials to send loud, screeching alarms to cellphones across a large area — left many local emergency management officials wary of the technology.

In 2017, as the Tubbs Fire engulfed Northern California's wine country, Officials in Sonoma and Napa counties decided against sending such mass wireless alertsWorried that they would cause disruption and panic across the district. Instead, they relied on the old system of sending messages to a small number of landlines and cell phone numbers voluntarily submitted by residents. In the end, 22 people died.

A year later, when the Camp Fire spread across the city of Paradise, officials did not use wireless emergency alerts technology, opting instead to send evacuation orders to less than a third of residents. Eighty-five people died, prompting investigations, reports and calls for statewide reform.

Today, jurisdictions across the state have adopted the latest wireless warning technology. The federal system has also become more sophisticated, allowing operators to provide more precise, targeted warnings. But despite technological advances, problems remain.

The problem wasn't that authorities failed to use advanced technology when massive fires swept through the Los Angeles area this month. Instead, mistakes or missed opportunities occurred in deciding how and when to warn specific geographic areas.

In Altadena, flames erupted from Eaton Canyon at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, and neighborhoods on the city's east side received evacuation orders at 7:26 p.m.

But Residents on the west side of Altadena did not receive evacuation orders to 3:25 a.m. — hours after the fire started burning through their neighborhood. All 17 people who died in the Eaton fire were from the west side of the city.

“There's no question that if some people had gotten that notification earlier, it would have saved a lot of grief, saved lives,” said Ron Galperin, a former Los Angeles city controller who created reports on the city's emergency alerts in 2018 and 2022. “Obviously, the notification systems need some work.”

On Jan. 8, county officials ran into a different problem: As officials tried to send warnings to a small area near the Hurst Fire, they sent several. False emergency warnings are urging residents across Los Angeles to prepare to evacuate. Alerts caused by a software glitch caused confusion and panic in the metropolitan area of ​​10 million people.

The failure to deliver timely and accurate evacuation alerts — first to the few in Altadena and then to the many — illustrates the challenges new wireless warning systems pose during fast-moving wildfires.

Unlike tornadoes that can be monitored for days, wildfires that turn into urban flames due to strong winds force emergency officials to make decisions at short notice.

“New technologies are very powerful, but small mistakes can lead to big mistakes,” said Thomas Goa, a geology professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who specializes in environmental hazards and emergency management. “Decision-making, it often comes down to a person.”

In 2018, the The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency made the announcement after sending out a false warning of an incoming missile attack The phones, televisions and radios of millions of residents and vacationers. The employee who sent the warning, it emerged Confusion due to unplanned training.

In 2020, flames LNU Lightning Campus Fire Drowned wine country, Warning to go out for cell phones in Napa County Failed due to code error. That same year, an alert was sent to a larger area than intended in Sonoma County, and another included a hyperlink to an evacuation map for the 2016 Kincade fire.

“There's no right number to send it to, no right geography to send it to,” Galperin said. “This, ultimately, requires human judgment.”

As a state that prides itself on technological innovation, California has taken several steps to improve its warning system.

It has Standardized warning language By providing model text for all 58 districts. It is set Wildfire Prediction and Threat Intelligence Coordinating Center To coordinate how bushfire threats are identified, analyzed and communicated to the public. Published across the state Warning and Warning Guidelines.

“The level of investment in hazard reduction in the last 10 years has been transformative for the state of California,” said Mark Ghilarducci, former director of the California Office of Emergency Services and chief executive of Emergent Global Solutions, a crisis management consulting firm.

“No state in the country is as advanced in technology as we are seeing,” he added, noting the state's recent implementation of earthquake early warning systems. “We're pushing out more information than ever before.”

But Gilarducci said the Los Angeles fire showed a constant need for improved coordination and training.

“What I learned the most from this event is that Mother Nature keeps us moving forward,” Ghilarducci said. “Just when you think you've got it figured out, Mother Nature kicks you in the face and says, 'No, you don't.'”

On Jan. 7, A Times investigation Neighborhoods across West Altadena did not receive electronic evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. — hours after the first radio report of the fire west of North Lake Avenue. Witnesses said they saw deputies trying to evacuate parts of West Altadena around 2 a.m.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barker made the call Independent study of the subject.

Experts stress it's too early to determine why residents of West Altadena didn't receive the alerts: It could be human error, technology error, or a combination of the two. But with winds gusting to 70 mph in many places, disaster could unfold at a speed most people are trained for.

“In emergency management, they often talk about being ahead of the curve: making decisions ahead of unfolding events,” Goa said. “But it clearly seems like it's fallen behind the curve fast.”

Goa said wireless emergency alerts were the best practice for evacuating residents in the Altadena fire: Emergency crews didn't have enough time to go street-to-street and door-to-door with fans.

Unlike alerts broadcast on television, radio, or social media, the Wireless Emergency Alerts system targets people in specific neighborhoods with a loud buzz that can wake them up and alert them. Messages will ring even when the phone is off and unlike old cell phone alert systems – people don't need to subscribe or download an app.

In 2019, improvements to the system allowed emergency management officials to “geocode” — the process of converting addresses to precise locations on a map — and to “geofence,” or create a virtual boundary around a specific geographic area.

But there are drawbacks to the wireless alert system: Alerts don't work for an older and non-WEA-capable phone, or if the owner turns it off or puts it on airplane mode.

If cell towers go out, people don't get wireless alerts by cell phone.

Even when residents receive alerts, the messages typically don't provide details on how close the fire is or where to go. For Altadena, alerts sent to the city's east side urged residents to log on to alertala.org — something that wasn't always possible because Internet services were down.

David Barrett, executive director of MySafe:LA, which works to improve fire prevention and disaster preparedness in Los Angeles, emphasized that it's important to focus on what the public can do beyond blaming officials.

“If you have a family member, it doesn't matter if they're rich or poor, you can still make a plan,” Barrett added. “Programs are free. You can still create contingencies and ways to take care of yourself and your family members.

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