In western Altadena, where 17 wildfire deaths were reported, residents say evacuation alerts came late or not at all

Los Angeles County officials are calling for an independent investigation to review the emergency alert system used during the recent Eaton and Palisades Fires to warn residents to evacuate.

By the time the flames from the deadly Eaton fire approached their western Altadena neighborhood, Mark Douglas and some of his neighbors had already given up on the Los Angeles County emergency evacuation system. “None of us got a red (mandatory evacuation) alert before we felt ready to leave our houses,” he told CNN Wednesday. “You know, we felt heat and fire and that trumps any alert. So a lot of us gave up on the alert system at that point. These systems are really great when they work. In this case, I don’t think they work.” Of the 28 deaths reported in the Los Angeles wildfires so far, 17 fatalities occurred in parts of western Altadena where residents said they either did not receive evacuation orders or — like Douglas — did so hours after the rapidly-spreading blaze started. Los Angeles County officials are now calling for an independent investigation to review the emergency alert system used during the recent Eaton and Palisades Fires to warn residents to evacuate. The Eaton Fire started at 6:18 p.m. on January 7, according to state officials. Some Altadena residents said they learned about the approaching fire only when they saw the flames near their homes. The call for an investigation comes after a Los Angeles Times review found that residents in western Altadena did not receive electronic evacuation orders until several hours after the Eaton Fire erupted, raising the question of whether deaths could have been prevented. The Times reported that western Altadena neighborhoods got no electronic evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. and never received evacuation warnings.