An investigation is underway to determine why the emergency notification system failed to deliver thousands of crucial alerts about evacuations during the Waldo Canyon fire.

In the days after the fire hit Colorado Springs, 11 News learned that more than 100,000 notifications were sent, but approximately 20,000 failed to reach the intended recipients.

"We want answers to all of these questions just like everyone else does,” said Ben Bills, spokesperson for the El Paso and Teller County E-911 Authority.

Bills reports that board members agreed to launch an independent investigation. They want to take a close look at every step in the emergency notification process to help pin down where it failed.

"We are going to look at everyone's records to see if we can figure out at exactly what point we had all the abandoned calls people were asking about,” Bills said.

They hope the investigation will pinpoint the changes that need to be made to prevent another widespread problem.

The investigation is expected to cost about $10,000, and last between four and six weeks.