Did "Democrat NGOs" set fire to Tesla Cybertrucks in Seattle on March 9, 2025? No, that's not true: The Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives told Lead Stories they are still investigating the overnight fires as of March 10, 2025. There is no evidence provided in a social media post that the fires on the Cybertrucks were intentionally set by anyone -- no sources are given or reputable reports cited to substantiate the claim of arson.
The claim appeared in a post and video published on X on March 10, 2025 (archived here) which opened:
TERROR: Multiple Democrat NGOs have coordinated attacks on Tesla dealerships, staff, and vehicles. Last night a number of CyberTrucks were torched in Seattle. Democrats are becoming increasingly more desperate and violent.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Mar 10 17:13:25 2025 UTC)
The video shows four Tesla Cybertrucks on fire in a parking lot. The March 9, 2025, fire was reported on local news channel KING 5 Seattle which described the location as a storage lot for Teslas, in a video posted on their YouTube channel (archived here). The reported said there were no details about the cause of the fire, with the reporter saying, "Police have not confirmed at this point exactly how the fire started."
"This will be a joint investigation with the Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)," Eric Muñoz, detective (archived here), media & public affairs with the Seattle Police Department, told Lead Stories via email on March 10, 2025, about the fire. He did not share any details about the cause of the fire or if any people are organizations were considered suspects in the case, writing:
We are working to provide additional information when it becomes available.
David Cuerpo, public information officer with the Seattle Fire Department (archived here), told Lead Stories via email on March 10, 2025, that the Seattle Police Department was taking the lead in the investigation. He shared details from the incident but did not name a suspect or suspected organization responsible for the fire:
Last night at 11:13 p.m., the Seattle Fire Department's Fire Alarm Center received 911 calls reporting a car fire at 2nd Ave. S. and S. Spokane St. in SoDo. Crews extinguished a fire involving four electric vehicles. Then moved the involved vehicles away from anything else that can catch fire. No buildings were involved in the fire, and no injuries were reported.
The SFD Energy Response team was also on scene to mitigate fire hazards from the damaged vehicles' lithium-ion batteries.
The post does not provide any proof or evidence that the fire was set by "Democrat NGOS," does not link to any reputable news stories reporting that, nor share any details of where such information was obtained. A person in the video asks a fire fighter, "does this look like arson, sir?" and is told it is "too early to know."
Had the perpetrator been identified it would have been national and international news amid Tesla owner Elon Musk's high-profile work on budget-cutting for President Donald Trump. A Google search (archived here) of keywords "fire tesla Seattle democrat ngo" did not return any actual news stories reporting the "Democrat NGOs" were responsible for the fires.
Other Lead Stories fact checks regarding Elon Musk can be found here and Tesla can be found here.
