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.
The evacuation notice that was received by some Ventura County Residents on television was sent in error by the County of Los Angeles. There is no threat to Ventura County at this time and no need for residents to evacuate.#VCSheriff #VCOES
— Ventura County Sheriff (@VENTURASHERIFF) September 1, 2022
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.
That was scary! I called the Sheriff's Office to see what was going on. LA better get it together. pic.twitter.com/qsC14J5xTF
- Let'sGoBrandon (@CalPatriotGirl) September 1, 2022
WTF is this alert that just interrupted @ABC7 news? @Ask_Spectrum #emergencyalert #pacificocean #emergencyalertsystem #evac pic.twitter.com/paSZV9HI8h
- Kathy Degner (@CaliKatBird) September 1, 2022
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.