False evacuation alert terrifies people in Los Angeles

A mysterious evacuation alert in the Los Angeles area caused panic among citizens Wednesday. The Emergency Alert System warning interrupted television programming indicating that all of Los Angeles County and areas of the North Pacific were to be evacuated due to a fire.

Viewers in Ventura County were watching television when the programming was interrupted to display the message: "Emergency Alert System. A civil authority has issued an IMMEDIATE EVACUATION NOTICE for the following counties or areas" (the list included Los Angeles and Ventura, California, the eastern North Pacific Ocean and from Port Conception to Guadalupe Island).

Shortly thereafter, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office published that it was a message sent in "error" by Los Angeles County. He noted that there was no need to evacuate the area as there was no threat.

However, the false alarm coincided with the spread of several wildfires across California. One of them, located in Castaic, in northwestern Los Angeles County, spread rapidly and forced mandatory evacuations in the area. For this reason, many viewers showed their fear of this warning on their screens.

It has not yet been determined how many viewers were 'victims' of this false alarm. Los Angeles County has not commented on the incident at this time.