Emergency alert telling LA, Ventura counties to evacuate sent by mistake: officials

LOS ANGELES - An emergency alert sent to some residents in  Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Wednesday telling the entire city to evacuate was sent by mistake, officials confirmed. 

"Emergency Alert System. A civil authority has issued an IMMEDIATE EVACUATION NOTICE for the following counties or areas," the message said.

The list also included the Eastern North Pacific Ocean, and Port Conception to Guadalupe Island.

"The evacuation notice that was received by some Ventura County Residents on television was sent in error by the County of Los Angeles," the sheriff's office said on social media. "There is no threat to Ventura County at this time and no need for residents to evacuate."

However, the L.A. County's Office of Emergency Management told Fox News Digital the message was "properly formatted" and should not have "triggered an EAS evacuation" but it didn't have an immediate answer for the "root causes" of the incident. 

The alert came as the Route Fire erupted in Castaic, prompting evacuations, as the state continues to experience a brutal heat wave expected to last through Labor Day.

A Flex Alert was issued for the state two days in a row due to the dangerous temperatures.

The mistaken alert comes after a false alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack triggered widespread panic in Hawaii in 2018.

The alert was issued on television, radio and sent to cellphones in the state in the morning on January 13 that year.

The top two civilian officials at Hawaii Emergency Management Agency announced their resignations as a result, and the employee who issued the alert was fired.

Fox News contributed to this report.