The company behind Los Angeles’ emergency alert technology said it has added safeguards to prevent further inaccuracies Wildfire Evacuation warnings will no longer be sent to residents deadly, devastating forest fires.

The first false alarm was sent out on Thursday. It was intended for people near the Kenneth Fire, but instead was sent to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles Countycaused panic. Some residents received a follow-up message telling them to “ignore” the inaccurate warning. Other erroneous warnings telling people to evacuate if they are away Fire zones were reported later on Thursday and Friday. City officials said they are investigating the issue and are committed to getting to the bottom of it.

Genasys, the company that provides the county with the alarm technology, said it was “unable to reproduce this error.” The company also said it has “built security measures into the software to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

How do Genasys emergency alerts work?

When wildfires break out, it is local emergency managers and law enforcement who send evacuation alerts to a community. Genasys’ algorithm draws “alert polygons” that determine who receives the message.

“If you are in the polygon, you get an alert,” said Lisa Bernard of Genasys.

To create these polygons, the algorithm takes into account things like population density, danger areas, and ways people can get out. Kevin McGowan, director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, said Friday that the alerts are sent automatically, emphasizing that there is no person sitting at a desk sending the alerts.

“With these predefined areas, the process of defining the area to be evacuated and then communicating that information to the public will be significantly accelerated,” explained Bernard.

These areas can be extremely targeted. Sometimes the algorithm may alert one side of the road and not the other due to conditions. This happened on Wednesday as the Eaton fire approached a compound in the Pasadena area. This can happen due to natural firebreaks, such as when one side of the street is lined with houses bordering a tree-covered hillside and concrete parking lots on the other side.

Los Angeles officials said Friday that several factors, including where a phone is registered, may have influenced who received the message.

Craig Fugate, a former FEMA administrator and Genasys board member, said he hopes the technology will make evacuations smoother and ultimately save lives. The next step will be examining whether the warnings in Los Angeles gave people enough time and information to protect themselves.

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