Emergency evacuation alert sent in error to large number of Los Angeles residents

Across Los Angeles, phones rang loudly with an alert to evacuate just before 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Times staff across the metropolitan area — from Long Beach to Echo Park and beyond — received the alert, which did not appear to discriminate by distance from any particular fire.

“This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department,” the notice read. “An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area.”

The alert, county emergency officials said, was sent in error.

“A little bit ago, earlier, a wireless emergency alert was intended to be sent for an evacuation warning area in the Kenneth fire. A malfunction occurred, and the wireless emergency alert went to the entire county,” Kevin McGowan, director of the County of Los Angeles Office of Emergency Management, told reporters at the city’s Emergency Operations Center.

“Upon realization of this malfunction, the Office of Emergency Management and the county’s Emergency Operations Center took immediate action to issue a cancellation and then also issue a second wireless emergency alert to correct the misinformation from the malfunction.”

The erroneous emergency alert caused a stir in all parts of Los Angeles.

In the media room at the city of Los Angeles Emergency Operations Center downtown, phones of elected officials, staffers and a handful of reporters screeched in unison.

With her back to a giant glass wall separating the media area from the floor of the operations center, newly sworn in Rep. Luz Rivas — who had been deep in conversation with fellow new Rep. George Whitesides — exclaimed that she’d received the alert to her 818 number.

Staffers speculated whether the alert was related to a nascent fire in West Hills, until a reporter with a 310 area code number said she’d also received the alert.

In an Atwater Village Chipotle, customers and employees alike sighed and picked up their phones.

“Are we closing?” asked one employee who was slicing chicken in the back of the kitchen.

“It’s a warning, not an order,” responded another employee, scanning the alert. “If it’s an order, we have to close right away.”

Then she turned back to her customer: “Black beans, right?”

Some city officials sent out notices to residents telling them to ignore the alert. Long Beach said, “There are no evacuation warnings for Long Beach residents at this time.”

The city of Santa Monica also responded, saying on X that the notifications did not apply there.

Times staff writer Connor Sheets contributed to this report.