LA County floods phones with wildfire alerts after deadly failures but some fear its gone too far

After years of deadly failures to warn residents about approaching wildfires, Los Angeles County officials have swung from radio silence to sounding every alarm.As the Bryson Fire tore through the Malibu hills Thursday, emergency alerts flooded phones, evacuation warnings sent residents scrambling and cars jammed narrow canyon roads.Some fire survivors welcomed the aggressive response.Others wondered whether officials had gone from too little warning to too much.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story The blaze erupted around 4:41 p.m.

Thursday near Encinal Canyon Road on Malibu’s western edge.By Friday, it had scorched 146 acres, with more than 414 emergency personnel battling the flames and containment at just 17%.Two evacuation zones were under mandatory orders, while 12 others faced warnings.

The flurry of alerts marked a dramatic turnaround from previous wildfire disasters, when residents were left scrambling for information as flames closed in on their homes.In 2018, the Woolsey Fire tore through the same mountains, destroying more than 1,600 structures and killing three people.Some residents learned the fire was coming from frantic calls from neighbors.Others didn’t realize the danger until they saw or smelled smoke.A county review later exposed serious problems with the emergency response, finding that officials lacked a clear, coordinated evacuation strategy and failed to use all available warning systems.Seven years later, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in January 2025, another review found emergency alerts were again delayed and confusing.That same week, the county’s warning system suffered a spectacular blunder when an evacuation warning intended for Calabasas and Agoura Hills was mistakenly blasted to nearly 10 million phones countyw...