Ohio clip falsely linked to Maui wildfires

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on August 15, 2023 at 22:00
  • 3 min read
  • By AFP USA

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Social media users are sharing footage they claim shows the deadly wildfires that ravaged the US state of Hawaii in August 2023. This is false; the video was taken in Ohio in 2022.

"Even a blind man can see this was an attack on the people of Maui," says an August 14, 2023 post resharing footage from another user on Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X."

"I have seen wild fires in California many times, but I've never seen a wild fire crawl across a pavement like this...America, tell us the truth."

The footage shows a few bystanders filming what appears to be a fire burning over a paved road while a car is driving away.

Screenshot taken August 15, 2023 of a post on Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X"

The same footage has spread in other posts making similar claims.

The island of Maui was ravaged by fast-moving fires in early August 2023. The disaster is already the deadliest US wildfire in a century, with only about a quarter of the ruins of the coastal town of Lahaina searched so far.

But the clip shared online is not new -- and it was not filmed in Hawaii.

A reverse image search on Yandex surfaced identical footage in posts from June 18, 2022.

"The Flats on fire tonight in Cleveland, Ohio," one post says, crediting three accounts for the video montage.

Jack Webb, whose X account was mentioned, told AFP he recorded the 2022 blaze and that his clip (archived here) was featured in a local news report.

"I can confirm all of those videos were shot in the same location at the same time," he said August 14.

Using Google Maps, AFP verified that the footage was taken in The Flats neighborhood of Cleveland.

Screenshot taken August 14, 2023 of a video shared on social media
A Google Maps screenshot taken August 15, 2023 shows The Flats neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio

 

 

Firefighters responded to several grass and mulch fires the night of June 18, local news outlets reported. The Cleveland Fire Department said no damage or injuries were reported despite the "dramatic footage," and that the fires were likely triggered by "careless smoking" (archived here).

AFP has debunked other claims about the deadly fires in Maui here.

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