Evacuation alert firm sued over Eaton fire death

Victim's relatives see 'digital redlining' in software’s predesigned zones for warnings.

- BY JENNY JARVIE AND TERRY CASTLEMAN

ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times ON JAN. 7, L.A. first responders were overwhelmed when extreme conditions sparked devastating fires.

Attorneys representing the family of Stacey Darden, an Altadena resident who perished in the Eaton fire, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday, alleging that the software that Los Angeles County uses for emergency alerts was defective and failed to alert her to leave in time.

The complaint, filed more than 10 months after the Eaton fire engulfed Altadena, targets the emergency alert software company Genasys, and blames the company’s predesigned evacuation zones, or “polygons,” for preventing residents east of Lake Avenue from getting timely evacuation orders the night of the fire.

While the lawsuit also blames Southern California Edison for starting the fire with its utility equipment, like several other lawsuits filed in the wake of the deadly blaze, it is among the first to focus on how evacuation orders failed to reach a large swath of residents. Genasys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Geraldine “Gerry” Darden, the sister of Stacey Darden, said her family thought long and hard about the decision to bring a complaint against Genasys for her sister’s death.

“Edison started this fire, and Genasys never warned her that she was in danger,” Darden said in a statement.

“My sister was studiously following the evacuation orders the night of the Eaton Fire. The truth is that if these companies had done what they were supposed to do, Stacey would be alive today.”