Did the Biden administration order Los Angeles airspace to be closed "to firefighting aircraft for over a day during his visit" in January 2025? No, that's not true: There was a temporary flight restriction during Biden's visit to the city on January 8, 2025, which is typical for any visiting president to any location. The Federal Aviation Administration told Lead Stories that "pilots conducting firefighting operations could fly in the restricted airspace provided they coordinated beforehand with air traffic control."
The claim appeared in a post on X on January 8, 2025 (archived here) by conservative commentator Alex Jones. It included a clip from an "Info Wars" broadcast showing the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, with a caption that read, in part:
NEXT-LEVEL INSANITY!
Biden Admin Ordered LA Airspace Closed To Firefighting Aircraft For Over A Day During His Visit, Allowing Historic Blaze To Burn Out Of Control
This is how the post looked on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken Thu Jan 9 06:14:00 2025 UTC)
In the video clip, Jones falsely claimed that President Joe Biden's visit was "impeding aircraft activity."
In a phone interview with Lead Stories on January 9, 2025, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson said emergency personnel were allowed to operate during the temporary flight restriction (TFR).
"Pilots conducting firefighting operations could fly in the restricted airspace provided they coordinated beforehand with air traffic control," wrote the spokesperson in an earlier email received on January 9, 2025.
The FAA sent Lead Stories the relevant TFR (archived here) put in place during Biden's January 8, 2025, visit to Los Angeles. It specifically addressed emergency crews in the first section:
ALL EMERGENCY / LIFE SAVING FLT(MEDICAL / LAW ENFORCEMENT / FIREFIGHTING) OPS MUST COORDINATE WITH ATC PRIOR TO THEIR DEP AT 858-537-5900 TO AVOID POTENTIAL DELAYS.
TFRs are not blanket bans on all flights. Instead, these restrictions require coordinated efforts between pilots and air traffic controllers when a president is in a particular area, according to FAA rules on "Flight Restrictions in the Proximity of the Presidential and Other Parties" (archived here).
Typically, the FAA will implement a 10-mile inner ring TFR for a president or other VIP with the strictest restrictions, with a second 10- to 30-mile less restrictive outer ring, the FAA spokesperson told Lead Stories.
The FAA describes TFRs on its website (archived here):
The FAA maintains the safety and efficiency of our National Airspace System. As with cars on the road, there are rules that cover aircraft in the sky to ensure safety. In special circumstances, the FAA may temporarily restrict access to certain designated areas of our airspace, much in the same way a city or state may block off access to a street when necessary.
The chart shown in the clip was a screenshot taken from SkyVector Aeronautical Charts, a website that provides pilots with flight planning tools and other services. It does show a "VIP" TFR on January 8, 2025, from 18:45 to 20:30 "Z," which means Zulu time or Coordinated Universal Time.
(Source: Lead Stories compilation Thu Jan 9 19:00:52 2025 UTC)
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Other Lead Stories fact checks involving the 2025 Los Angeles fire can be read here.
