Posts capitalise on Australian bushfires to fuel baseless 'chemtrails' conspiracy
- Published on January 30, 2026 at 09:58
- 3 min read
- By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia
Local authorities say factors such as the dry landscape and climate change contributed to intense fires during an early January heatwave in southeastern Australia, dismissing claims circulating on social media that "relentless aerosol deployment programs" were to blame. The posts shared footage of white cloud-like formations left by aircraft as proof, but an atmospheric chemist told AFP they were condensation trails emitted from aircraft engines and more likely to be seen during days with low humidity.
"Aerosol deployments pre fire storm?!? Locals reported Gippsland pre spray prior to extreme fires," reads the caption of a January 13, 2026 Facebook video shared by a social media influencer in Queensland state.
The video, which has more than 70,000 views, shows white trails against a blue sky. Speaking over the video, the influencer says the footage was posted to his Telegram on January 3 and shows "extensive spraying over Gippsland, Victoria".
"Locals were extremely alarmed to see the sky filled and blanketed by chemicals. Is it weather modification?" he says. "Are these things fire accelerants because the firefighters are reporting that the fires are burning faster and hotter than anything they've seen before."
Three days earlier, he posted that "the bushland of Australia is laden with chemicals from the relentless aerosol deployment programs" that cause fires to "burn hotter and faster".
The posts circulated as southeastern Australia sweltered through a heatwave in early January that saw temperatures soar past 40C, with bushfires destroying houses and razing vast belts of forests (archived link).
Victoria State Premier Jacinta Allan declared a state of disaster on January 10, giving fire crews emergency powers to force evacuations (archived link).
Similar claims about purported aerosol deployments were reshared by other Facebook users across Australia.
The posts stoked comments from some users who referred to the "spraying" as "chemtrails" -- a persistent conspiracy theory alleging white trails left by flying aircraft are toxic chemicals or biological weapons dispersed through secret government programmes.
"Yes chemtrails... when that comes down with rain, it settles on leaves and trees making it highly flammable," said one user, while another commented: "Sparkler ingredients = chemtrails."
But local authorities and an atmospheric chemist refuted the claim the footage showed flammable aerosols or fire accelerants being deployed over Gippsland.
'No basis'
A spokesperson for Victoria's state emergency centre told AFP: "There's multiple reasons aircraft may be flying, including regular passenger flights or firefighting aircraft responding to fires. The assertions made in this Facebook video about 'aerosol deployments' are false" (archived link).
The fire around Gippsland, which the centre issued a warning about on January 4, was caused by lightning, the spokesperson said via email on January 21 (archived link).
They added that intense fires are the result of a range of factors, "including the dry landscape, elevated fire weather and climate change".
The footage circulating on Facebook corresponds to Google Street View imagery from Bairnsdale, in the Gippsland region (archived link).
According to data from air traffic site Flight Radar 24, the only plane that made its flight path through Bairnsdale on January 3 was a commercial airline -- Jetstar 216 around 11:15 am (archived link).
Robyn Schofield, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Melbourne, told AFP that the trails in the sky were contrails -- condensation trails -- produced by aircraft engine exhaust (archived link).
"When you introduce water vapour and possible ice nuclei into areas which are quite dry in the atmosphere, you get clouds forming instantly," she said by phone on January 27.
She added that the trails are more likely to be seen on really dry days, which correspond to the fire days "because those are the days where the humidity will drop in the atmosphere".
"The leap between contrails and fires is one I have not seen before and there is no basis for that anywhere," she said.
While there are intentional aerosol deployments for geoengineering -- deliberate intervention to counteract climate change impacts, such as increasing cloud coverage and shade over the Great Barrier Reef -- Schofield said commercial planes are not used as special set-ups are needed (archived link).
AFP has debunked numerous false claims surrounding "chemtrails".
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