Does a video depict South African firefighters dancing at a Canadian airport on their way to help battle the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires? No, that's not true: A video showing 200 South African firefighters singing and clapping together was actually recorded in 2023 as they arrived at the Edmonton International Airport to help fight Canadian wildfires. A South African news agency reported on January 15, 2025, that no firefighters from South Africa had been sent to help fight the January 2025 Los Angeles fires as of that date.
The claim appeared in a post on Instagram on January 10, 2025. The text overlay said:
Group of South African Firefighters who have landed in Canada to make their way to LA, to help...
This is what the post looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Thu Jan 16 15:07:47 2025 UTC)
The post consisted of a 1:14-minute-long video showing a large group of people dressed in yellow firefighting gear singing, clapping and dancing in what appears to be an airport baggage claim area.
But they were not heading to Los Angeles in January 2025.
Lead Stories examined a YouTube video (archived here) posted June 9, 2023, by Canadian broadcaster CTV. That video matches the one that shows South African firefighters supposedly headed to Los Angeles. CTV explained in the description that these firefighters were staying in Canada:
More than 200 South African firefighters deployed to help combat Canada's wildfires performed a dance at Edmonton's airport.
Here is a screenshot of that post at the time of writing:
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Thu Jan 16 14:58:53 2025 UTC)
On January 15, 2025, South African news agency Caxton Network News (archived here) reported that as of that date, no South African firefighters had been dispatched to help with the Los Angeles wildfires (archived here).
Lead Stories has reached out to the South African government regarding the claim and will update this fact check with their response.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, click here.
