CLAIM: A video of an explosion near a gas station at night shows a “directed energy weapon” being used to start the wildfires in Maui.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The clip shows a 2018 explosion of transformers and power lines in Louisiana.
THE FACTS: A stream of old, unrelated photos and videos have spread online in recent days with false claims that they show footage from the wildfires on the Hawaiian island — along with baseless suggestions that they depict “directed energy weapons” initiating the fires.
One such clip now circulating appears to show blurry footage of sudden bursts of light along with sparks, fire and smoke. At one point the video shows the corner of a yellow Shell gas station awning.
“Maui had a ‘power surge’ sent to their town and flashes of Directed Energy Weapons,” reads a caption on an Instagram post that included the clip.
But the clip has no relation to Maui.
The video was recorded during an explosion of transformers and power lines in Kenner, Louisiana, in December 2018. The Associated Press obtained the video at the time.
The same clip has been wrongly tied to Maui in Spanish social media posts, as the AP has reported.
The Facebook user who shared the video in 2018 said online at the time that he was at a bar and restaurant called Smitty’s After Hours. Google Maps shows the restaurant is near the Exxon and Shell gas stations that are across from one another and are visible in the clearer footage of the explosion.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
