Maui

Did U.S. Marines arrest Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Deputy Administrator Erik Hooks? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim "is not true." Also, the website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it publishes satirical content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on August…

Was Hurricane Dora, which passed nearly 500 miles south of Hawaii, too far away to fan the deadly wildfires that killed scores of people on Maui in early August 2023? No, that's not true: The flames that raced across western Maui were driven by a combination of a high-pressure system to the north and Dora, a low-pressure system, to the…

Is there a link between the wildfires that burned on Maui, Hawaii, on August 8, 2023, and a sighting of green lights seen on a January 28, 2023, livestream from the Subaru Telescope on top of Mount Mauna Kea, on the "Big Island" of Hawaii? No, that's not true: While a green laser was sighted for a few seconds from…

Did U.S. Marines "neutralize" a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) convoy on Maui around August 20, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that there's "absolutely no truth to this claim." Also, the website this claim originated from carries a disclaimer stating that it publishes satirical content. The claim appeared in an article published by…

Are insurance companies denying Maui fire losses due to "zoning infractions?" No, that's not true: A Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs spokesman told Lead Stories there have been no reports of claim denials "due to zoning infractions" as of August 18, 2023. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on Bitchute on August…

Does a video show former President Donald Trump visiting the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023 to comfort survivors of the devastating wildfires there? No, that's not true: The footage of Trump is from 2019, when Trump visited Alabama following a tornado. As of August 19, 2023, he had not visited Maui after its wildfires. The claim appeared in…

Did government officials in Maui pass a law prohibiting new building unless some sort of "serious natural disaster" occurred, thereby raising suspicions about the cause of the deadly August 2023 wildfires on the Hawaiian island? No, that's not true: The claim appears to be referring to legislation that applied to hotels and other so-called transient accommodations. The law did not…

Did a laser beam from a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW) blast Hawaii just before the wildfires started in August 2023? No, that's not true: This is not a photo of a DEW laser hitting Hawaii. It shows a time-lapse image of a SpaceX rocket launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 22, 2018. A post (archived here)…

Did Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announce in mid-August 2023 that the state will take ownership of Lahaina to convert it into "a smart city"? No, that's not true: The governor discussed a range of measures aimed at protecting housing security for local populations in response to people's concerns about displacement in the aftermath of wildfires. The claim appeared in a…

Did an orange laser beam ignite a fire in a Maui church that was already consumed in flames, surrounded by blowing embers, and palm trees bending in a heavy wind? No, that's not true: This photo has been altered. The original photo by Maui News photographer Matthew Thayer has been picked up by The Associated Press and was featured in…