An avalanche of myths and misinformation has been unleashed during the devastating and ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department via email on Friday.
Why It Matters
This week's fires in Southern California, which have burned over 35,000 acres as of Friday, have claimed at least 10 lives, forced around 180,000 evacuations and burned down thousands of houses and other structures.
Baseless rumors about the emergency misinform the public and may make it more difficult for emergency workers and public officials to do their jobs.
What To Know
Here are some of the most pervasive online rumors concerning the fires in recent days:
Arson Suspect Charged With Starting the Kenneth Fire
On Thursday night, police arrested a man who was suspected of starting the Kenneth fire, which has burned over 1,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. However, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) arrested the man on felony probation violation charges, and an investigation did not find enough evidence to arrest him for arson.
"The suspect was interviewed and the investigation determined there was not enough probable cause to arrest for arson or possible arson," the LAPD public information officer's account posted Friday on X (formerly Twitter). "He was arrested on a felony probation violation."
The Hollywood Sign Burned Down
The Hollywood sign was still standing and untouched by fire late Friday afternoon. While the Sunset fire burned relatively close to the location of the iconic landmark on Wednesday night, the fire was extinguished quickly and the sign was never in any real danger.
"There was nothing happening in or around the Hollywood sign itself," Hollywood Sign Trust Chairman Jeff Zarrinnam told the Los Angeles Times. "The fire that was happening was west of the 101 Freeway and the Hollywood sign is east of the 101 Freeway."
Firefighters Were Forced to Use Handbags to Fight Fires
Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has referred to the fires as "Democrat treason," shared on X a video of Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters using bags to fight fires on Thursday. He claimed that they were "forced to use women's handbags as buckets" because of Democratic state leadership and donations of equipment to Ukraine.
While the LAFD did donate some supplies to Ukraine in 2022, like many other fire departments, it is not suffering a critical lack of equipment because of the donations, and the "handbags" seen in videos are normal firefighting equipment.
LAFD officials told TMZ that the equipment Jones was referring to were canvas bags that firefighters routinely bring with them and fill with water to extinguish "small" flames like trash fires when it is easier to use the bags than a hose.
Pacific Palisades Firefighters Were Without Water Due to Dry Reservoirs
Hoses did temporarily run dry for some firefighters during early efforts to extinguish the Palisades fire. However, only one reservoir in the area was closed for repairs, not empty, and the problems with water supply were caused by an inability to resupply tanks fast enough given the extended and overwhelming demand.
Janisse Quiñones, the CEO and chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said during a press conference on Wednesday that "the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line," according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants in the hills in the Palisades, and because we were pushing so much water in our trunk line and so much water was being used...we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough," Quiñones said.
What People Are Saying
California Governor Gavin Newsom said during a remote meeting with President Joe Biden on Friday: "We've got to deal with this misinformation. There were hurricane-force winds of mis- and disinformation, lies. People want to divide this country, and we're going to have to address that as well. And it breaks my heart, as people are suffering and struggling, that we're up against those hurricane forces as well."
Environmental scientist Peter Gleick wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: "Reported problems with water supply for firefighters are the direct result of the massive demands for fire-fighting water, the destruction of pipes and pumps by the fires, and homeowners leaving hoses and sprinklers running to try to protect their property.... They have nothing to do with the overall availability of water to southern California and nothing to do with the state's efforts to protect endangered and threatened fish and ecosystems."
What Happens Next
While firefighters were making steady progress in battling most of the fires, some the largest blazes were still mostly uncontained as of late Friday afternoon. Rumors and misinformation related to the fires are likely to continue spreading online.
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