Wildfire

Did comedian Ellen DeGeneres and actor Tom Hanks pledge to move abroad if Donald Trump is elected president in 2024? No, that's not true: No credible news outlets have reported that. The claim was promoted, among others, by an online store selling T-shirts, a meme website and a parody account -- not by the official websites or social media accounts…

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…

Did the United States transfer $6 billion to Ukraine by mistake? No, that's not true: In the summer of 2023, the Pentagon admitted that it overestimated the value of military gear sent to Ukraine due to an accounting mistake but the money was not misspent or even spent. It is still there as of this writing and will be used…

Does a video shared to social media in September 2023 show Maui residents "being arrested for camping on the beach with nowhere to go" following the destructive wildfires that killed at least 115 people? No, that's not true: The video in question was filmed in 1985 as part of a documentary showcasing a group of houseless native Hawaiians in the…

Did the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) reveal in August 2023 that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by a "weather weapon" developed by the U.S. government? No, that's not true: The claim is part of a Chinese disinformation campaign. Additionally, there is no credible information or evidence to suggest that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by such a…

Did a large lightning bolt and strange lights appear in this video right before the earthquake struck Morocco on September 8, 2023? No, that's not true: The video, originally posted on TikTok (archived here) on May 1, 2020, was removed from its original context and a false caption added by someone else. It does not show the moments before the…

Do an unburned blue car and beach umbrella seen in a social-media video about the August 2023 wildfire that ravaged the town of Lahaina on Hawaii's island of Maui prove that lasers caused the blaze since the color blue can resist lasers? No, that's not true: The video that touted this widespread claim was marked "For entertainment only." Two additional…

Were 2,000 kids missing in Maui a month after the wildfires of August 2023? No, that's not true: There are not 2,000 missing children on the island of Maui, Hawaii Governor Josh Green's office told Lead Stories on September 11, 2023. The claim was built on school enrollment data and not missing persons data. The official count of missing people…

Did President Joe Biden announce in September 2023 that his administration intends to "increase the number and intensity of the extreme weather events"? No, that's not true: A social media video used incomplete footage of a speech to imply that Biden intends to use weather wizardry to bolster fears about climate change. In remarks on September 2, 2023, Biden discussed…