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As wildfires rage for the third consecutive day through parts of Los Angeles, now including the Hollywood Hills, several neighborhoods have been forced to evacuate for safety purposes. But on Thursday afternoon, a wildfire evacuation alert was mistakenly sent to the smartphone of every resident in Los Angeles County, a region with more than 9 million people.
“An evacuation order for residents near the Kenneth Fire currently burning in West Hills was mistakenly issued Countywide,” wrote LA County’s official account in a post on X. “This alert was only intended for residents of Calabasas and Agoura Hills.”
Everyone in my newsroom got this alert… in Ktown, in NoHo, in Century City, in Manhattan beach.
Must have been sent in error, because there’s no way. pic.twitter.com/M4MlNfxBId
Several Los Angeles residents posted on social media that they received the push notification right around 4pm PT, despite being in an areas that were quite far from any active fire. The emergency alert interrupted a live broadcast on Fox LA, confusing the meteorologist on air.
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.
The smartphone push notification was issued countywide “due to a technical error,” according to LA county supervisor Janice Hahn, noting in a post on X that a correction will be sent shortly.
Smartphone makers allow government officials to send emergency push notifications to users based on their location, a feature that’s particularly important for California residents when wildfires are occurring. However, errors like this can unnecessarily cause panic in an already stressful situation.
Maxwell Zeff is a senior reporter at TechCrunch specializing in AI and emerging technologies. Previously with Gizmodo, Bloomberg, and MSNBC, Zeff has covered the rise of AI and the Silicon Valley Bank crisis. He is based in San Francisco. When not reporting, he can be found hiking, biking, and exploring the Bay Area’s food scene.
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