Old photos are being misrepresented online to fuel a conspiracy theory about the Maui wildfires
This combination of photos provided by Travis Secrest, a resident of Perry Township in Ohio, shows a flame at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in the winter of 2018. The right-hand photo was shared on social media in August 2023 with false claims that it shows the wildfires in Maui. (Travis Secrest via AP)
CLAIM: Two images of beams of light reaching up the sky prove recent wildfires on Maui were started by an “energy weapon.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Both images are unrelated to the fires on Maui. One photo shows the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from a California military base in May 2018. The other shows a flare from a controlled burn at an oil refinery in Ohio the same year.
THE FACTS: As images and videos showing the wreckage caused by the deadly wildfires spread on social media, some users are sharing unrelated photos in an effort to spread a baseless conspiracy theory that the cause was nefarious.
In one image, a long beam of light extends from the ground into a bright blue sky.
A Facebook post that shared it stated: “This photo is circulating social media. Apparently this beam was captured before the Hawaii fires. Can anyone confirm?”
But the image has nothing to do with the Maui wildfires. It was taken during the May 22, 2018 launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in California at what was then called Vandenberg Air Force Base. The photo was originally posted on SpaceX’s Instagram account.
Other posts are misrepresenting a photo of what appears to be a fireball on the horizon with a beam of light coming out of it.
In an Instagram video, a man claims that the image “shows a laser beam coming out of the sky directly targeting the city.” He then falsely claims the Maui wildfires are linked to a long-running conspiracy theory about a weaponized government weather modification program.
“END TIME – The fire damage in Hawaii leaves open the question of whether the fire was caused by a deliberate nature. In other words; was the cause a energy weapon?” reads a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that also shared the image.
But this photo isn’t related to the Maui wildfires either. Instead, it shows a flare that resulted from a controlled burn at a Canton, Ohio, oil refinery on Jan. 16, 2018.
The photo can be traced back to a Facebook comment that day on a post by The Canton Repository, a local paper, requesting that residents share images of the burn at the Marathon Petroleum refinery. Travis Secrest responded with the image.
Secrest confirmed to The Associated Press that he took the photo in January 2018 from Baum Road in Canton Township, and said that the reality wasn’t “as dramatic” as the photo.
“I was standing at my parent’s house, all you could see was essentially the light column,” he said. “And you couldn’t see the source from their house.”
Secrest, who grew up in the area, said he initially thought the flare was from a fire. After he drove to a better vantage point he could see the flare was coming from the refinery.
Secrest added that it’s “unfortunate” that his image is “being manipulated in a serious situation.”
The Maui wildfires, which have killed at least 67 people as of Friday, are the deadliest in the U.S. since the 2018 Camp Fire in California. Officials said they haven’t started investigating the immediate cause of the fires, but they have been fanned by strong winds from a passing hurricane and fueled by a dry summer.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
