The destructive winds and devastating fires that are sweeping through the Los Angeles area this week drove many, understandably, to their phones seeking information — and seeking to help.
Downloads of apps like Watch Duty soared as Angelenos anxiously searched for information about evacuation boundaries, evacuation sites and the fate of their neighborhoods. On social media, people also shared photos and news stories and reposted TV screenshots — and many of us followed these updates about the Palisades and Eaton fires starting Tuesday. Reliable information was mixed with mistaken secondhand reports, and as so often happens, confusion spread.
On Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Fire Department issued a relatively routine public request for off-duty firefighters to call a staffing line to report their availability to help combat the blazes. And this is where one strain of misinformation began.
All kinds of people — surely with the best of intentions — began reposting the LAFD’s call for off-duty members to report in, but some who shared this crucially misconstrued the details. Posts by celebrities, restaurants and even some journalists implied that the LAFD was asking for anyone willing to volunteer as a firefighter to call the — by now surely beleaguered — LAFD duty number.
The Fire Department made attempts to correct the record, but the damage was done. As late as midday Wednesday, solicitations for volunteers were still widely circulating on social media, directing people to call the number intended for off-duty firefighters.
Angelenos want to help their neighbors, including by sharing useful information. It’s hard for official emergency management channels to compete with that cacophony of voices. Indeed, communication may be one of the biggest problems in modern American emergency management. And because of this, we might be missing out on an enormous untapped resource: the willingness of Americans to help.
To be sure, there is plenty that neighbors can do during a crisis, like helping one another to evacuate from an area. But engaging in suppression activity on a fire? Without coordination from officials in charge, that’s not only personally dangerous, but also can hinder suppression efforts and make things worse for everyone. It is unclear whether that happened in Los Angeles this week, but many people did publicly share that they had called the LAFD number to offer help and that they had been turned away.
Without a structure to prepare and coordinate volunteers, that’s probably for the best. Imagine if groups did show up on the front lines with no idea of the tactical plan and no direct line of communication with coordinating authorities. Firefighters would have to treat these civilians as unevacuated residents in need of rescue. Firefighters are tasked with protecting life and property, in that order. That means unofficial volunteers take attention from saving neighborhoods and put firefighters at risk. Imagine if DIY firefighters launched their own drones to scope out the status of fires; officials might have to ground their own aircraft.
But how can citizens be expected to know any of this?
It is understandable — laudable, even — that Angelenos showed such a selfless desire to help when they saw what appeared to be a call for volunteers. It shows a deep, largely untapped well of civic-mindedness and compassion upon which we can draw during future disasters. But only if we prepare well in advance to do so. Official emergency communications are not reaching the public effectively, and most of the would-be volunteers of the public have not been trained to join disaster responses.
Social media has become the primary vehicle for up-to-date information in emergencies, with official agencies such as police and fire departments, as well as weather agencies, sharing information and alerts there first. However, this essential information from reliable agencies is reposted and consumed alongside posts created by those with less experience and no authority — and occasionally also by bots and agents intentionally sharing false information. When information channels are crowded and contested like this, particularly amid the chaos of a disaster, the public can struggle to discern reliable guidance.
This week in Southern California, emergency managers will be focused on fighting these devastating wildfires and thinking about the recovery to come. When the ash settles, however, a close study of how the LAFD communication spread — and the well-intentioned chaotic response — may reveal some needed deep work ahead.
There are many possibilities to prepare to capitalize on residents’ desire to help neighbors in times of crisis. This might include a new push to enroll people in volunteer organizations such as the American Red Cross, an expansion of reserve firefighting and first responder rolls, a buildup of community emergency response teams, or something else entirely.
Los Angeles can take the lead on building a new model of emergency assistance and communication that combats trends of misinformation by ensuring people with this well-meaning energy have helpful places to channel it.
Jay Balagna is an assistant policy researcher at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Rand, where Alyson B. Harding is an associate policy researcher and Vanessa Parks is a behavioral and social scientist.
