After millions got false fire warnings, L.A. County’s emergency alert system faces scrutiny

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• L.A. County’s emergency alert system faces scrutiny after devastating fires.
• EV demand stalls out in California as automakers face zero-emission sales mandate.
• 101 Latino-owned businesses and organizations to experience the best of Latino L.A.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

Erroneous L.A. County fire alerts spark House investigation

If you live in Los Angeles County, there’s a good chance your phone blared and buzzed just before 4 p.m. on Jan. 9, informing you that an “EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area” due to the fires burning across the region.

I was on the phone with a climate scientist (who was explaining that we have to coexist with fire if we want to live in L.A.) when I got the alert. It was a shock, especially since I live about 15 miles from the closest blaze.

“Gather loved ones, pets, and supplies,” the alert advised. After a moment of panic, I looked out my office window, where I could see the smoke plume from the Eaton fire a good distance away. I quickly checked the county’s evacuation map; no warning zones close to us.

An emergency alert evacuation warning on an iPhone during the Eaton fire.

(Kirby Lee / Getty Images)

So I continued with the interview. Just as I finished, my phone lit up again: “Disregard last EVACUATION WARNING. It was for Kenneth Fire Only.” That blaze was burning on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley near Woodland Hills and Calabasas.

“Well, someone screwed up,” I and millions of fellow county residents said in unison after a quick sigh of relief.

The next day, county officials acknowledged the error.

L.A. County’s correction alert, which I received about 20 minutes after the false fire evacuation warning.

(Ryan Fonseca / Los Angeles Times)

“Our preliminary investigation indicates that an accurate, correctly-targeted alert went out from LA County’s Emergency Operations Center at around 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 9,” the county said in a statement. “However, after it left the EOC, the alert was erroneously sent out to nearly 10 million residents across the County.”

Those false alarms sparked panic, but it wasn’t the only issue that plagued L.A. County’s emergency alert system while the firestorms raged last month. As embers rained down on western Altadena overnight Jan. 7 into Jan. 8, evacuation orders were delayed by several hours.

All 17 people confirmed dead in that fire lived in western Altadena.

“When flames erupted from Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7, neighborhoods on Altadena’s eastside got evacuation orders at 7:26 p.m.,” Times national correspondent Jenny Jarvie wrote this week. “But residents on the westside did not receive orders until 3:25 a.m. — hours after fires began to blaze through their neighborhoods.”

Now an inquiry by local U.S. House members, led by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), aims to understand what went wrong.

Lashonda Ellis pauses while searching for valuables in the rubble of her childhood home that was destroyed by the Eaton fire.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Letters requesting information have been sent to L.A. County officials, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and Genasys Inc., the software company contracted to issue the county’s emergency alerts. More than a dozen members of L.A.’s congressional delegation signed the letters.

“In life-safety emergencies, appropriately timed, targeted, and clear emergency alert messages can mean the difference between life and death,” House Democrats wrote, according to an excerpt shared by Garcia’s office. “However, unclear messages sent to the wrong locations, multiple times and after the emergency has passed, can lead to alerting fatigue and erosion of public trust. In this time of intense grief, loss, and dislocation, we are working to learn all of the lessons of the past weeks, and to swiftly implement reforms to ensure they never happen again.”

Though the letters don’t mention the delayed alerts sent to some Altadena residents, Garcia told The Times that the issue will be part of the investigation.

“I don’t think that we should underestimate how serious of a massive disaster this was in a moment of a serious emergency,” Garcia told Jenny. “We know that other emergencies are going to happen again. ... We use this system for more than just fires. If there’s another emergency, a natural disaster, and some type of notification that needs to go out, the public needs to know that the system is working correctly.”

The day after the erroneous alerts were sent, L.A. County officials announced they had suspended their alert system managed by Genasys and switched to a system operated by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The House investigation isn’t the only probe in the works to scrutinize the fire response.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month called for an independent investigation into why fire hydrants lost pressure or ran dry in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, along with why the Santa Ynez Reservoir was offline and empty when the Palisades fire broke out.

Today’s top stories

Early adopters jumped into the EV market, but flat sales growth figures show that many mainstream consumers have yet to come around.

Demand for new electric vehicles has flattened in California

• Aside from Tesla, which sells only EVs, no other major manufacturer will meet the state’s 35% threshold for zero-emission vehicles in the upcoming 2026 model year, said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Assn.
• New sales figures from the dealers trade group show 387,368 zero-emission vehicles were registered in California in 2024, or roughly 1 out of 4 new cars sold.
• That represents just a 1% increase over previous-year figures, when EV sales soared 46%. Total California new car sales for 2024 were also flat, at 1.75 million vehicles.

What is USAID? And why do Trump and Musk want to end it?

• Then-President John F. Kennedy established the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Cold War.
• Musk has described the organization, which distributes humanitarian aid abroad, as “a criminal organization.” President Trump agreed, saying it has been “run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out.”
• Musk and Trump have moved to shut it down, at least temporarily, without involving Congress. Democrats say presidents lack the constitutional authority to eliminate USAID. But it’s not clear what would stop him from trying.

What else is going on

• Rain will hit SoCal for much of this week. Why it’s probably not a fire killer.
• Newsom heads to D.C. to meet with Trump officials.
• Children’s Hospital L.A. stops initiating hormonal therapy for transgender patients under 19.
• Cal Fire’s predictions didn’t foresee the Altadena inferno. Now it’s changing its fire-hazard maps.
• ‘Shadow government’? Billionaire Elon Musk’s grip on U.S. government spending raises questions.
• The L.A. City Council proposes new measures to protect immigrants from Trump.
• A key Senate committee backs Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as health secretary.
• An arson suspect was chased down by residents after allegedly sparking fires near Chatsworth Reservoir.
• An LAPD sergeant was arrested at work, accused of fleeing the scene of a fatal DUI crash.
• CSU unveils a massive venture to provide free AI tools and training across all 23 campuses.
• The Grammys and FireAid concerts raised $125 million for fire relief.
• Fox will launch a news and sports streaming service later this year.
• Super Bowl LIX security concerns? New Orleans visitors will be with ‘a sea of blue.’
• A lawsuit accuses UC of illegally giving admissions preference to Black and Latino students.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Commentary and opinions

• Trump’s lies are dragging down democracy, journalism and the climate, columnist Sammy Roth writes.
• How Karla Sofia Gascón turned a historic Oscars first into a historic Oscars nightmare, writes columnist Mary McNamara.
• Donald Trump’s second presidency delivers a diktat a day, columnist Jackie Calmes writes.

This morning’s must reads

Abdullah al-Farra, 17, removes rubble in search of the remains of four of his younger siblings. Six other siblings, his father and a cousin were killed in Israeli airstrikes.

(Bilal Shbair / For The Times)

‘My home has become a cemetery.’ Amid cease-fire, Gazans unearth their dead from rubble. Like thousands of families all over Gaza, 38-year-old Samar al-Farra and her 17-year-old son are trying to recover the remains of loved ones buried under rubble — an agonizing collective effort that has swiftly gathered pace since a truce was reached last month between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Other must reads

• He’s painted Altadena for 40 years. Now he is painting the ruins of the Eaton fire.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

For your downtime

(Photo Illustration by Diana Ramirez / De Los)

Going out

• 💅☕101 Latino-owned businesses and organizations to experience the best of Latino L.A.
• 🎤 Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan reunite (again) for Outlaw Music Festival’s 10th anniversary. Three California venues will host the tour, including the Hollywood Bowl on May 13.

Staying in

• 📖‘Lost’ actor Sonya Walger on the unimaginable: Losing her home in the fires while releasing her first book, “Lion.”
• 🥑 Here’s a recipe for Alyse Whitney’s spicy California roll guacamole.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

A question for you: What’s a piece of advice that changed your life?

Lawanda Riley writes: “I’m nobody’s Savior. You can love them and wear yourself down trying, but they HAVE to want it and work with you.”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you.

Thousands march downtown to protest Trump’s immigration policies.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Robert Gauthier at the ‘A day without immigrants’ protest in downtown Los Angeles.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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