Los Angeles County officials are investigating the cause of erroneous evacuation warnings being sent to L.A. County residents amid the ongoing wildfires in the region.
“There is an extreme amount of frustration, anger, fear with regards to the erroneous messages that have been being sent out through the wireless emergency alert system across LA County,” said Kevin McGowan, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management, at a press conference on Friday morning.
McGowan apologized for the erroneous alerts.
“This is not human-driven,” McGowan told reporters. “There is no one sitting at a desk right now initiating emergency alerts. Right now, as these alerts are being issued, they are not being activated or initiated by a person.”
McGowan said this issue is his top priority, and he’s working “all hands on deck” with FEMA to identify the cause of the alerts. Every “technical specialist” is working to resolve the issue and find the root cause, McGowan asserted.