Maui Wildfires

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…

Is the unusually fast publication speed for the book "Fire and Fury: The Story of the 2023 Maui Fire and Its Implications for Climate Change" a sign that something is suspicious -- that the author either was tipped off the disaster was going to happen, was in on it, or supernaturally predicted it? No, that's not true: The 44-page book…

Does a video show fire crawling on cement in Maui during the wildfires of August 2023? No, that's not true: The video appeared online more than a year before the Maui fires. It shows a fire in Cleveland, Ohio, in June 2022 that was reported on local news, footage that was posted on YouTube at the time. The claim appeared…

Does a video show a laser beam from the sky, or a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW), cause an explosion in a city, or spark the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii? No, that's not true: This viral video predates the August 8, 2023, Maui wildfires. It shows an electrical transformer exploding in the Santiago commune of Macul, Chile, which was first posted…

Was the 2023 Hawaii Digital Government Summit scheduled with the purpose of turning Maui into "the first smart island," "governed by AI" and was the August 2023 wildfire started to create a crisis to be solved by AI? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the event's website did not show any Maui-specific sections or outline any plans to…

Does this video of a gas station attacked with a red laser beam show an example of a Directed Energy Weapon (DEW)? No, that's not true: This video has been edited. The original eyewitness video does not feature a laser beam. Filmed in the Russian city of Makhachkala on August 8, 2014, it shows a situation developing at a Exson…

Was the deadly wildfire that began the evening of August 8, 2023, on the Hawaiian island of Maui caused by a "direct energy weapon assault"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to support that assertion. Instead, natural factors, not a direct energy weapon, are the likely cause of the wildfires. The claim appeared in a post and video on…