Probe pushes on into why Altadena residents’ alerts were late during Eaton fire

A consultant group hired by Los Angeles County to investigate why Altadena residents didn’t receive evacuation alerts until nearly nine hours after the Eaton fire broke out is expected to give a second update to the Board of Supervisors no later than July 27.

Since early February, the McChrystal Group has been working on an independent review of the county’s emergency-alert notification systems to better understand the delay in evacuation alerts.

Timely evacuation orders may have helped more people flee before flames descended on homes. In all, 18 people died in the Eaton fire and 17 were in west Altadena, authorities have said.

On April 28, the McChrystal Group gave its first 90-day report to the county’s Board of Supervisors.

Helen Chavez, spokeswoman for Supervisor Kathryn Barger, w