On Tuesday evening, an emergency alert test sent by South Pasadena accidentally reached phones across Los Angeles County, including areas like Long Beach, downtown L.A., and Redondo Beach.
The alert, intended as a test, stated, “This is a test of the South Pasadena WEA system. There is no emergency.” The incident highlights ongoing challenges with wireless emergency alert systems, which are managed through a collaboration between FEMA, the Federal Communications Commission, cellphone providers, and local officials.
The alert was meant for a limited audience but was mistakenly broadcast to a much larger area. South Pasadena city spokesperson Jennifer Colby indicated that the error likely resulted from human error rather than a malfunction of the alert system platform, Finalsite. The city has apologized for any inconvenience caused.
This incident echoes a previous alert error in January, where an evacuation warning meant for a small area near Calabasas was sent to 10 million phones across the county during a firestorm. That alert caused widespread panic and confusion, exacerbated by repeated “echoing alerts” due to technical issues with the company contracted to send the alerts, Genasys.
While the impact of Tuesday’s erroneous alert is minimal, similar mistakes during active emergencies can have serious consequences. According to the Los Angeles Times, the cause of the error is under investigation.
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