Maui Wildfires

Did California fire officials announce lithium deposits were found in January 2025 wildfire relief efforts, proving a "land grab" theory? No, that's not true: In a January 12, 2025, community update, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced it found "an underground lithium battery storage plant for bicycle batteries." The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors told Lead…

Were the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires intentionally set to implement "smart city" technology across Los Angeles? No, that's not true: While the cause of the wildfires had not been determined at the time of writing, the "smart city" effort to improve technology for municipalities does not include intentionally destroying them first. Los Angeles unveiled its plan to eventually add…

Did a white home with a red roof survive a wildfire that leveled every other home in a Los Angeles neighborhood? No, that's not true: This aerial view does not show a real neighborhood impacted by the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County. Google Lens image search results say the image was made with Google AI. The image appeared…

If a wildfire destroys cars, must it always destroy nearby trees as well? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found other examples of wildfires sparing trees while nearby cars and houses were incinerated. Experts explain that trees generally have a higher moisture content and take longer to heat up than closed structures like a car or home, making trees less…

Did Elon Musk discuss communities "putting up blue tarps all over the roofs" in an effort to defend against lasers setting fires in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan, as suggested by a video on Instagram? No, that's not true: The clip added altered video and audio to a real 2020 interview, including AI-generated imagery, to make it seem Musk…

Did Joe Biden let slip that there is a "right roof" with a certain color that will protect a home from being destroyed by lasers or directed energy weapons during wildfires as some conspiracists suggest? No, that's not true: In a video clip of Joe Biden speaking in Brownsville, Texas, he does say how in the aftermath of a wildfire…

Does a viral video of a "green laser" authentically show a beam igniting a Texas wildfire that started in late February 2024? No, that's not true: The clip was posted two months before the blaze. It was first published in a social media account of a person describing themselves as a "video creator" who made no references to Texas…

Was "The Rock" booed in Las Vegas for failing to help the victims of the wildfires in Maui? No, that's not true: The video of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is from a WWE event where he was playing a bad character, and the audience was chanting for his opponent. The video had nothing to do with the August 2023 Maui…

Were the 2023 Maui wildfires started because the island holds 120 million tons of lithium? No, that's not true: A U.S. Geological Survey representative and an associate professor emeritus of geology both said there is no evidence that there is that much lithium in Maui or throughout the Hawaiian islands. Lithium is mainly found in Australia, South America and Nevada,…

Does a social-media video show a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "concentration camp" in Hawaii? No, this is not true: This video, according to a FEMA spokesperson, shows a project with which FEMA is not affiliated at all. The project built tiny homes for homeless and at-risk U.S. veterans. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook published…