2023 clip falsely linked to recent Canadian wildfires

"Canada is battling a severe wildfire outbreak, with hundreds of active fires burning across several provinces, particularly in northwestern Ontario," reads an Instagram post  published on July 15, 2026, by a Nigerian-based account.

"The fires have forced evacuations in several First Nations communities and produced massive smoke plumes that have spread across Canada and into the United States," it adds.

The accompanying clip shows a forest engulfed in massive flames as people back away, hands raised.

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Screenshot of the false Instagram post, taken on July 27, 2026

After a relatively slow start to the 2026 wildfire season, massive blazes spread across Canada in mid-July, sending huge swaths of smoke sweeping over North America and forcing numerous northwestern Ontario communities to evacuate.

Several legitimate videos surfaced online amid the fires' devastation, including footage of a train crew being engulfed by raging flames outside their control room and a video of a community evacuating by boat from Collins First Nation (archived here and here).

However, the footage of the figures gesturing toward towering flames is not recent.

2023 wildfires

The clip was actually filmed in 2023 in Quebec. AFP previously reported on the footage when it was incorrectly shared in posts claiming it showed arsonists starting wildfires.

In reality, the video shows volunteer wildfire fighters from the Opitciwan community of the Atikamekw Nation near the remote village of Obedjiwan, Quebec.

The French content creator who originally posted the clip on June 25, 2023, told AFP at the time that the people in the video were raising their hands as a gesture of surrender once the wildfire was deemed to be out of control (archived here).

AFP previously debunked numerous posts in 2023 that claimed the year's unprecedented number of wildfires were ignited by nefarious actors trying to prove the existence of climate change.

Scientists have repeatedly told AFP that climate change is worsening wildfire seasons, and while some conflagrations have been linked to human causes, a human connection does not necessarily mean blazes were intentionally started.

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.