It was a quiet night at the Crescenta Valley High School evacuation center. Eleven people were asleep in their cots, evacuated from homes near burning foothills in the Angeles National Forest.
Then, with no warning, nearly 200 more evacuees turned up about 2:30 a.m. Some clutched pillows and still wore pajamas, said Mack Dugger, an American Red Cross volunteer on duty that night. They'd been jarred from their beds early Monday by automated phone calls -- known as reverse 911 calls -- warning them to get out of the path of the Station fire.
Only most were in no such danger. Sheriff's officials had made a mistake when they entered the evacuation zone in the system. About two hours later, deputies arrived to explain the error.
"All of a sudden we were back down to 11 people again," Dugger said.
Communication between authorities and the public during the Station fire -- the largest in Los Angeles County in modern history -- has been such a problem that county supervisors ordered an investigation earlier this week.
Residents in the fire zones have complained that information on government websites is out of date, emergency personnel give them conflicting instructions and media reports don't tell them how close the fire is to their homes. On top of that, the county's first effort to use its new $1.9-million reverse 911 system, launched in June, was hampered by human error.
Reaching residents quickly, particularly those in remote areas, took on new urgency after the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego County. That fire, which grew to more than 280,000 acres, killed 12 people on its first night, overtaking two canyon communities before authorities could warn residents. The Alert L.A. County system, which covers both incorporated and unincorporated areas, allows officials to launch thousands of phone calls by drawing the targeted areas on a computerized map.
"Unfortunately, it is not an exact science," said Sheriff's Lt. Keith Swensson. "What we plotted out on the map was a little too large, and some residents were notified who shouldn't have."
Still, Swensson said everyone who needed to evacuate was notified, and he reiterated the importance of heeding evacuation orders.
Sarah Rush and Fred Bova had lost their previous home when fire swept through the Lake Arrowhead community of Cedar Glen in 2003. When they received one of the erroneous calls Monday, they did not think to look outside to see how close the fire was.
