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Fire season is here. Make sure you’re signed up for these alerts
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
)
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Some of those issues can be attributed to the general chaos of a major emergency — that's in addition to out-of-date technology and infrastructure, as well as conflicting procedures and inadequate training.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.
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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
- Official L.A. County account
- L.A. County Public Works
- L.A. County Fire Department
- L.A. County Sheriff's Department
- Caltrans District 7
- National Weather Service (Los Angeles)
Los Angeles city
- Notify L.A. (city of L.A. alerts; sign up)
- Los Angeles Fire Department incidents
X accounts
- Official city of Los Angeles account
- Mayor of Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Fire Department
- Los Angeles Police Department
- National Weather Service (Los Angeles)
Orange County
X accounts
- Official Orange County account
- Orange County Fire Authority
- Orange County Sheriff
- Caltrans District 12
- National Weather Service (San Diego)
Ventura County
- Ventura County alerts (sign up)
- Live Ventura County emergency map (evacuations)
X accounts
- Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services
- Ventura County Fire
- Public information for Ventura County Fire
- Ventura County air quality
- California Highway Patrol for Ventura (road closures)
- Caltrans District 7
- National Weather Service (Los Angeles)
Santa Barbara County
X accounts
- Official Santa Barbara County account
- Santa Barbara Fire Department
- Caltrans District 5
- National Weather Service (Los Angeles)
San Bernardino County
- San Bernardino County emergency alerts (sign up)
- Live San Bernardino County emergency map
- San Bernardino County Ready App
X accounts
- Cal Fire San Bernardino
- San Bernardino County Fire Department
- Caltrans District 8
- National Weather Service (San Diego)
Riverside County
- Riverside County emergency alerts (sign up)
- Live Riverside County emergency map
- Active fires in Riverside
X accounts
State- and region-wide emergency resources
- Cal Fire incident page
- Wireless Emergency Alerts (national system)
- Live Caltrans map of incidents
- Live wildfire cameras
- Live air quality readings
- Earthquake early warning system
X accounts
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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