House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is leading the call for an inquiry. The letters, signed by more than a dozen members of L. Read more: After faulty cell alerts during fire emergency, L. County overhauls its system. On Jan. Residents as far away as Long Beach — more than 35 miles from any active fire — reported receiving pings on their phones.
The letters do not mention delays in electronic emergency alerts sent to areas of Altadena, but Garcia told The Times they would fall within the scope of the investigation. Los Angeles County supervisors have also called for an independent review of the emergency notification system. When flames erupted from Eaton Canyon on Jan.
But residents on the westside did not receive orders until a. All of the 17 people confirmed dead in the Eaton fire were on the westside. The bigger issue is why the system didn't work. After the county issued alerts to millions who faced no wildfire threat, county officials said the notices were intended for a smaller group of residents in the Kenneth fire evacuation area near Calabasas. They said the error was due to a software glitch. After switching to a different system, the county released a statement saying it was working with Genasys, FEMA and the FCC to investigate how alerts continued to ping out on phones across L.
Further, the incident raises a serious risk that future alerts could be ignored or downplayed by more recipients, placing lives at risk. In a letter to Fesia Davenport, the chief executive of Los Angeles County, Garcia asks the county to provide, no later than April 1, information about how it utilizes Genasys software to provide protective communication tools and to describe the actions taken by both L. County and Genasys in the days after the false alarms.
County's Coordinated Joint Information Center, established to coordinate the release of public information during an emergency across multiple departments and agencies, said it welcomed the questions from local members of Congress.
