(Bloomberg) -- An evacuation notice that popped up on television Wednesday telling residents to "immediately" evacuate Los Angeles was broadcast in error, a sheriff's office said.
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Viewers in Ventura County were watching TV when programming was interrupted to show the message: "Emergency alert system. A civil authority has issued an IMMEDIATE EVACUATION NOTICE for the following counties or areas." The list included Los Angeles, Eastern North Pacific Ocean, and Port Conception to Guadalupe. It is not yet known how many viewers received the alert.
Two tweets - one in English and one in Spanish - were later posted by the Ventura Country Sheriff's Department stating the message was sent in error.
The false alarm came as a series of wildfires erupted in California Wednesday, prompting a number of localized evacuations in northwestern Los Angeles county. It triggered concern on Twitter, with one user posting: "That was scary! I called the Sheriff's Office to see what was going on. LA better get it together."
In 2017, a false alarm spurred widespread panic in Hawaii. Residents received a Saturday morning alert to their mobile phones sent that turned out to have been sent in error. It stated in capital letters: "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."
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