In the face of any regional crisis, being prepared to respond to dangerous conditions is essential. While many understand the importance of having a bag of essential survival items like water, flashlights and food, a 2023 FEMA survey shows a reduction of people who subscribe to warning alerts or warnings.
Early warning systems are proven to save lives when people receive the most up-to-date information about any local disaster.
Although Los Angeles County experienced some technical difficulties with its alert network last week – resulting in nearly 10 million people across L.A. County erroneously receiving evacuation warnings – officials expressed confidence that the system’s issues had been addressed.
County officials are working to identify the cause of the system-wide error but a preliminary assessment suggests it was “due to issues with telecommunications systems, likely due to the fires’ impacts on cellular towers,” officials said.
L.A. County switched all local emergency notifications to the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) alert system to ensure further unintentional alerts are not dispersed to the public in error.
Having geographic-based alerts enabled through phone settings or push notifications will keep you informed about conditions or if evacuation is an absolute necessity in fire-prone areas.
Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system
The California Office of Emergency Services relies on a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system to notify Californians of emergencies in their areas through their smartphones. Most phones are WEA-capable devices and usually have emergency alert settings activated by default. They will issue a droning sound with vibrations when receiving an alert.
However, the Office of Emergency Services does not send fire evacuation warnings and defers to counties to notify residents of dangerous conditions regarding wildfires.
Learn how to activate emergency alerts on your iPhone or Android here.
Subscribing to alerts for Los Angeles County residents
Residents in Los Angeles County can rely on alerts from Alert L.A. County, which is used to notify people and businesses in case of local emergencies. Residents need to opt-in to receive texts, phone messages or email alerts. The service can be signed up for here.
CalOES is taking responsibility for all emergency notifications for the county until the issue regarding the county’s alert system is resolved. Information on how to sign up for city-specific notifications within L.A. County can be found here.
Subscribing to alerts for Los Angeles residents
If you live in the city of Los Angeles, the Department of Emergency Management urges residents to sign up for NotifyLA, the city’s free, automated mass notification system used to provide emergency information such as evacuation orders to anyone who lives, works or spends time in Los Angeles.
The alerts are sent via recorded telephone messages, text messages and emails, in the event of emergencies or critical situations. Alerts are sent by targeting a specific geographic location and will only be received by the people in the area impacted by the emergency.
Alerts can come in the form of recorded phone messages, texts and emails. In order to ensure you receive notifications to your cell phone or email, register those numbers or emails with NotifyLA here or text READY to 888-777.
AQMD’s air quality monitoring system
Air quality has degraded since the start of the fires last week to the point where Los Angeles Unified School District closed schools to protect students and staff.
The Air Quality Management District has a tool to check the status of air quality around you and a separate app with alert capabilities to notify you if levels become hazardous. The app is in both English and Spanish and provides real-time and forecasted air quality information using data from regulatory monitors and hundreds of sensors.
You can download the app for Apple devices here and Android devices here.
Download the Watch Duty app
Watch Duty, a free app launched in 2021 that tracks wildfire status across the United States, exploded in popularity during L.A.’s latest firestorms with a massive spike in downloads.
The app uses data from volunteer contributors and staff reporters with firefighting, emergency dispatch, and journalism experience who watch wilderness camera live streams and listen in on firefighter radio communications in the field.
Users can subscribe to updates in the county in which they live to stay informed, no matter where they are in the country. With several burning wildfires simultaneously, users in L.A. County can see real-time updates about evacuation zones, and fire perimeters and subscribe to push notifications for alerts in their area.