As multiple wildfires like the Eaton blaze and the Palisades fire wreaked havoc across Southern California in January, fears over neighborhoods being destroyed were compounded by confusion over which areas of Los Angeles County were actually under evacuation warnings.

"An evacuation order for residents near the Kenneth Fire currently burning in West Hills was mistakenly issued to nearly 10 million County residents along with some residents of neighboring counties," Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director Kevin McGowan said in a statement on Jan. 9.

Now, more than six months after those erroneous emergency alerts went out, emails and text messages show for the first time just how perplexing the messaging mayhem was, based on more than 200 pages of records re

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