Every smartphone in LA accidentally received a wildfire alert

Like forest fires For the third day in a row, anger in parts of Los Angelesnow, several neighborhoods, including the Hollywood Hills, have had to be evacuated for safety reasons. But on Thursday afternoon, every resident of Los Angeles County, a county of more than 9 million people, was mistakenly sent a wildfire alert to their smartphone.

“A Countywide evacuation order was erroneously issued for residents near the Kenneth Fire currently burning in the West Hills,” LA County said in an official account. Type in X. “This warning is intended for residents of Calabasas and Agoura Hills only.”

Several Los Angeles residents posted on social media that they received the push notification around 4:00 PM PT despite being in areas far from any active fire. An emergency alert interrupted live coverage on Fox LA, confounds the meteorologist in the air.

According to reports, the push notification of the smartphone was issued nationwide “due to a technical error”. LA County Supervisor Janice HahnA fix will be posted shortly, noting in the post on X.

Smartphone manufacturers allow government officials to send emergency push notifications to users based on their location, a feature that’s especially important for California residents when wildfires break out. However, mistakes like these can cause unnecessary panic in an already stressful situation.