Claim: A video shows lightning was behind the recent deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, California.
Fact: The video is not related to the recent wildfires and is likely AI-generated.
On 10 January, a TikTok user posted a video (archive) purportedly showing lightning falling to the ground and starting the fires in Los Angeles, California. The caption reads, “How California Wildfires started? #california #fire #californiafire #fyp #foryou”
The deadly wildfires broke out in Los Angeles on 7 January. The Palisades Fire covered 23,448 acres and destroyed approximately 6,800 structures in Pacific Palisades. Hours later, The Eaton Fire ignited “in the sprawling national forest lands north of downtown Los Angeles” while The Hughes Fire in northern Los Angeles County burned some 10,425 acres.
Additional fires that broke out and have been 100% contained included “the Lidia, Archer, Woodley, Sunset, Kenneth, Hurst and Auto fires.”
As of 28 January 2025, 29 people have died from the deadly wildfires that broke out on 7 January.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it predates the recent wildfires in Los Angeles and, therefore, is entirely unrelated.
Some users had shared this video well before the deadly wildfires broke out in LA on 7 January. An Instagram user shared this video on 9 December 2024 with the caption, “Helicopter pilot accidentally filmed a strange phenomenon of lightning.”
It appeared on X on 10 December 2024.
Another Threads user shared it on 11 December and wrote, “In the United States (Colorado) A helicopter pilot caught a phenomenon, never seen, in electrical clouds when a lightning struck 🙏”
A community note on the aforementioned X post indicated that this video was likely AI-generated.
Taking cues from this, Soch Fact Check analysed the video and found it has tell-tale signs of artificial intelligence software. The words and numbers on the gauges are gibberish, barely legible which is indicative of AI’s failure to generate clear text.
The monitor inside the helicopter also appears to be displaying scenes that do not match the scenery outside.
What sparked the LA wildfires?
Soch Fact Check did not find any credible news reports or statements from climate-scientists and weather experts which identified lightning as the actual cause of the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles, California. In fact, authorities have ruled out this possibility.
While lightning has been a common cause of wildfires in the US, according to the Associated Press, what sparked the LA wildfires in January 2025 remains unknown and authorities are still investigating the matter.
In California, different factors have led to wildfires in the past. Short-term factors were faulty power lines and arson while climate change was identified as a long-term cause.
A new investigation by The New York Times and The Washington Post reveals that a reignition from an old fire around New Year’s Eve might have sparked the Palisades Fire. The old fire region, northeast of the “Pacific Palisades neighborhood” covered four to five acres of area and firefighters contained the blaze in four hours. The satellite imagery analysis by the Times and the Post points to a “burn scar” near Skull Rock, as the area where the fires originated.
In the case of The Eaton Fire that erupted hours later, a lawsuit was filed against “Southern California Edison, the primary electrical utility for Los Angeles.” The lawsuit alleged that “electrical sparking at a utility transmission tower in the hilly Eaton Canyon area near the Altadena community” was responsible for The Eaton Fire.
However, a specific factor responsible for the deadly wildfires remains unknown, and an investigation by authorities might take weeks and months.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, rates the claim as false.
Virality
The TikTok video was liked 11,600 times, and shared 2169 times.
It was also shared on TikTok here and here.
A Facebook reel that was liked 41,000 times and shared 13,000 times was shared here.
Conclusion: A video claiming to show lightning that caused the ongoing LA wildfires is entirely unrelated and likely AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: BBC
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