Footage shows Louisiana electrical explosions, not Hawaii wildfires

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 17, 2023 at 18:59
4 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

Social media users are claiming a video shows a high-energy laser igniting the wildfires that burned through the US state of Hawaii in August 2023. This is false; the footage dates to 2018 and depicts a series of electrical explosions that lit up power lines and transformers in the state of Louisiana.

"Maui was attacked by directed energy weapons (dews)," says an August 13, 2023 post on Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X."

Screenshot from Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 16, 2023

Similar posts spread across the site and TikTok -- amplified by users who have previously promoted misinformation, including conservative commentator Chuck Callesto.

The posts build on the conspiracy theory that the blazes in Hawaii were sparked by directed energy weapons, which use concentrated electromagnetic energy to combat enemy forces and assets.

The early-August wildfires, the deadliest in the United States for more than a century, scorched the historic seaside town of Lahaina on Maui. At least 110 people have died, and some residents were not aware their town was at risk until they saw flames.

But the footage shared online is old and unrelated to the blazes.

A reverse image search revealed WWL-TV posted the clip to YouTube, X and its website on December 27, 2018 (archived here, here and here).

The local news station said the video "showed several large electrical explosions and power lines sparking up and down Williams Boulevard" in Kenner, Louisiana. The outlet attributed the footage to viewer Giovanni Bommarito, who posted it to Facebook (archived here).

The incident occurred during heavy winds and left more than 10,000 people without power, WWL-TV reported at the time.

AFP geolocated the clip to a stretch of the road in Kenner near Shell and Exxon gas stations (archived here and here).

Screenshot from X taken August 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot from Google Maps Street View taken August 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot from X taken August 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

Screenshot from Google Maps Street View taken August 16, 2023, with elements outlined by AFP

AFP reached out to the Kenner Fire Department for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

When asked about another image purportedly showing a laser, Iain Boyd, director of the University of Colorado's Center for National Security Initiatives, previously told AFP: "Modern high-energy lasers used for weapons operate at a wavelength in the infrared that cannot be seen with the naked eye."

Authorities are still probing the cause of the disaster in Maui. But the National Weather Service previously told AFP the agency alerted local officials up to a week in advance about dangerous fire weather conditions in Hawaii, issuing formal warnings in the days before the inferno began as a nearby hurricane brought intense winds to the area.

"A mix of dry vegetation, strong winds, dry subsiding air and low relative humidity helped to spread the deadly fires once they were ignited," Director of Public Affairs Susan Buchanan said August 11.

The Washington Post and other US media have reported that fallen power lines may have triggered the first blazes.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Hawaiian Electric, the state's main utility, claiming the company "inexcusably kept their power lines energized during forecasted high fire danger conditions." The company's CEO has said it does not shut off power during fire conditions in part because electricity is needed for water pumps.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the Hawaii wildfires here, here and here.

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