Media Contact:
Solene Manoukian, Community Relations Coordinator
solmanoukian@glendaleca.gov
(818) 548-3342
Investigation Into Evacuation Exercise Messaging Error Complete
Glendale, CA— The City of Glendale strives to provide exceptional customer service to our community and ensure residents’ quality of life and safety. On May 14, 2022, the City of Glendale conducted a planned evacuation exercise in the Chevy Chase Canyon, resulting in incorrect messaging distributed to residents of Los Angeles County.
After further investigation into the root cause of this error, it was determined that the program used to send out the messaging had restrictions our City staff was unaware of. This resulted in an override of the error notice, and the system defaulted to a countywide notification. The City of Glendale has taken steps to implement several safeguards and ensure that this error does not ever occur again.
“Although the messaging error on Saturday has largely overshadowed the intent of the exercise, we cannot allow this error to take away from the importance and need for these types of drills. Planning and preparing for an emergency ahead of time is key to the safety of our residents and community and allows us to be better prepared. As we saw last week in Laguna Niguel, fires are burning faster, hotter, and with more intensity than ever before. With the support of our community, the City of Glendale has been a leader in ensuring we are ready when an emergency strikes. On behalf of the City of Glendale, I offer my sincerest apology to anyone who was negatively affected by Saturday’s errant message,” said Fire Chief and Deputy City Manager Silvio Lanzas.
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