Officials refute claims that Biden visit halted firefighting planes

"Biden Admin Ordered LA Airspace Closed To Firefighting Aircraft For Over A Day During His Visit, Allowing Historic Blaze To Burn Out Of Control," says a January 8, 2025 X post from InfoWars founder Alex Jones, who has repeatedly spread misinformation and conspiracy theories on his show.

Jones's post includes a clip from the California news channel KTLA in which the host mentions that the station's aircraft were unable to fly due to Biden's arrival in Air Force One, but did not directly mention the impact on fire department aircraft.

The post garnered more than 73,000 likes as the same claim circulated elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Rumble and Gettr.

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Screenshot from X taken January 10, 2025

Five wildfires have broken out in the Los Angeles area, the largest two affecting the Palisades neighborhood and the adjacent city of Pasadena. The county medical examiner confirmed at least 24 people have died in the blaze as of January 14, with more fatalities possible as powerful winds continue to threaten the area with renewed spread.

Biden arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on the evening of January 6 to help coordinate the government's response to the inferno and left the city two days later. The outgoing president said he was deploying 400 federal firefighters and 30 firefighting planes and helicopters to help city and county officials extinguish the flames.

Biden also said the federal government would cover the costs of managing the disaster for the first 180 days at the request of California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Emergency aircraft exempt

When the US president or vice president is traveling, officials issue a temporary flight restriction, preventing most aircraft from flying too close or obstructing their path (archived here). The Federal Aviation Administration -- which regulates civil aviation -- notifies air personnel outlining the restrictions.

A spokesperson for the FAA said firefighting aircraft could fly through the restricted zone provided they coordinated their flight beforehand with air traffic control.

An archived notice issued by the agency for Biden's January 8 departure lays out the same exemption for emergency operators to fly through the restricted airspace.

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Screenshot from the US Federal Aviation Administration website taken January 14, 2025

Publicly available flight data published by the Swedish tracking site Flightradar24, does not show any firefighting aircraft idling at Los Angeles International Airport at the time Air Force One was landing at the airport. Other aircraft owned by emergency fire, law enforcement and medical agencies can be seen flying elsewhere in the county.

AFP reviewed the aircraft reported at the airport at the time Biden arrived and found 32 of them were owned by commercial airlines (highlighted in red), three were cargo transport planes (highlighted in blue), one was a private passenger jet (highlighted in pink) and another was owned by the US Air Force (highlighted in green).

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Screenshot from Flightradar24 taken January 14, 2025 with elements highlighted by AFP

The Los Angeles City Fire Department operates a fleet of seven helicopters, while the county owns an additional 10 aircraft, according to a 2023 report (archived here and here). Numerous other state, federal and international agencies have lent aircraft to help suppress the fires, including two water bombers from the Canadian province of Quebec, one of which was damaged and grounded after someone flew an aerial drone into it.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters officials had grounded all aircraft at about 0330 GMT on January 8 due to high winds. Aircraft were able to continue operations at around 1500 GMT, according to the department (archived here and here).

Biden did not leave Los Angeles to return to Washington, until just after 2019 GMT later that day, according to an AFP reporter accompanying the president on Air Force One.

Local news reported the same winds disrupted Biden's agenda in Los Angeles, causing him to cancel an event where he was going to christen two national monuments elsewhere in the state.

AFP contacted the Los Angeles City Fire Department and the US Secret Service for comment, but no responses were forthcoming.

AFP has debunked other claims about the Los Angeles fires here and here.