Human error the likely cause of South Pasadena emergency alert inadvertently sent across LA County, city official says

A South Pasadena test alert mistakenly sent this week to residents across the region was likely the result of human error, a city spokesperson said Wednesday.

“This is a test of the South Pasadena WEA (Weather Emergency Alert) system,” read the alert, which was mistakenly sent around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday to residents across Los Angeles County. “There is no emergency.”

Public safety officials sent the alert, which appeared to have pinged most cellphones in Los Angeles County, said Jennifer Colby, a spokesperson for the City of South Pasadena. Some users reportedly got the alert as far away as Orange and San Luis Obispo counties.

City officials are working with Finalsite, the platform that runs the emergency alert system, to determine why it was sent to a far wider audience than intended, but the issue was likely due to human error, Colby said. Officials will also work with the vendor to help prevent errors in the future, she said.

South Pasadena has an independent alert system separate from ones used by Los Angeles County departments.

In January, the Los Angeles County Fire Department sent multiple false alerts to cellphones across the county as the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires raged.

A report released in May by U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, found that a software error caused one of the alerts, which warned of evacuations amid the Kenneth fire and was mistakenly sent to millions of residents across Los Angeles County.

State legislators expressed concern over the faulty alert system and the possibility it could create alert fatigue among residents, causing them to ignore emergency alerts in the future. They also considered the possibility of a state-run emergency alert system.