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So you know when to evacuate in an emergency

By Jacob Margolis

Published September 26, 2025 3:43 PM

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Two people pull wheeled luggage and carry bags along a street. One has a dog on a leash.

People evacuate the Palisades fire on Jan. 7. Authorities stress that Angelenos need to monitor updates during emergencies and follow orders when they're given.

(

Robyn Beck

AFP via Getty Images

)

Topline:

Communication between emergency responders and the public can be difficult during wildfires, especially when it comes to evacuations. While perilous conditions and poor infrastructure can be blamed, there are proactive measures you can take to help give yourself the best chance of getting a heads up before a fire arrives.

Sign up today: Many cities and counties send emergency alerts via text messages, but you can often only receive them if you register first.

Click through for an exhaustive list of resources that you should should know about now that fire season is here.

Quite often during wildfires in California, government agencies struggle to communicate with the public, as was the case during the Woolsey Fire in 2018 and the Eaton and Palisades fires this year.

Some of those issues can be attributed to the general chaos of a major emergency — that's in addition to out-of-date technology and infrastructure, as well as conflicting procedures and inadequate training.

But there are things you can do to give yourself the best chance of receiving urgent messages, such as evacuation orders, during a disaster.

One of the most important is sign up for emergency text messaging services in your city or county. That’s one of the main ways emergency responders communicate with large numbers of people.

There’s Alert L.A. County, for example. But just 1.6 million people here are signed up — out of about 7.8 million adults. If as an Angeleno you do nothing else to prepare today, sign up for Alert L.A. County.

You should also be aware of the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of your local agencies, as that’s often where they post updates. Fire departments usually will have the latest on a fire’s acreage and behavior, while police will have updates on evacuations.

Of course, whenever there’s a wildfire, check in with LAist for up-to-date news and information as well.

Below is a list of websites and apps you should monitor during fires and fire weather.

Los Angeles County

L.A. County alerts (sign up)
Live L.A. County emergency map (evacuations)

X accounts

Los Angeles city

Notify L.A. (city of L.A. alerts; sign up)
Los Angeles Fire Department incidents

X accounts

Orange County

Orange County alerts (sign up)
Live Orange County emergency map

X accounts

Ventura County

Ventura County alerts (sign up)
Live Ventura County emergency map (evacuations)

X accounts

Santa Barbara County

X accounts

San Bernardino County

X accounts

Riverside County

X accounts

State- and region-wide emergency resources

X accounts

The Brief

Los Angeles County

Los Angeles city

Orange County

Ventura County

Santa Barbara County

San Bernardino County

Riverside County

State- and region-wide emergency resources