Photo used to claim ‘direct energy assault’ started Hawaii wildfires has circulated since 2018

Five-year-old images are being shared in social media posts as proof that the government is using "direct energy weapons," such as lasers, to intentionally start the deadly fires that have recently ravaged Hawaii.

"Pay attention!!!!!!! Not wildfires," read sticker text on a video shared Aug. 11 on Instagram. The video narrator said the Hawaii fires were caused by a "direct energy weapon assault." 

Hawaii officials said Aug. 10 that they don’t yet know what caused the wildfires that have swept across the island of Maui and killed more than 50 people.

Dry conditions, combined with low humidity and high winds, set the stage for the fires to spread, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said at an Aug. 9 news briefing.

The Instagram video narrator said a friend in Hawaii sent him a photo that "shows a laser beam coming out of the sky directly targeting the city." He then referred to baseless claims about government weather modification programs that he said spray highly flammable chemicals like aluminum into the sky.

We found multiple social media posts using the same image to make similar claims about a laser beam starting the Hawaii fires. 

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stated on April 1, 2024 in a Facebook post

It’s a sign of war that the U.S. Navy is assisting the U.S. Coast Guard in cleaning up Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge site.

Direct energy weapons are real — such as lasers, radio frequency devices and high-powered microwaves — and the U.S. and other governments are exploring using them for military purposes. But those weapons are not depicted in the Hawaii claim.

The photo, which shows a streak of light and a fire on the ground, has been circulating on social media and fueling false claims since 2018.

The same image was used that year to falsely claim it showed a meteor landing in Michigan and igniting a fire. Some used the image to claim it was a UFO being shot down or a missile striking the state, all of which were debunked.

A flash of light from a meteor was seen in the sky north of Detroit in January 2018, but there were no reports of it starting a fire on the ground. None of the multiple videos and photos captured of the meteor and seen on credible news sites show the image that was used to make the false claims.

So, where did this image originate? We can’t say for sure, but the fact-checkers at Snopes said in 2018 it may have been taken after a controlled burn Jan. 16, 2018, at a Marathon Oil refinery in Canton, Ohio. 

Another Facebook post used a different photo to claim a laser beam hit Hawaii., But that was a 2018 photo of a SpaceX rocket launch in California.

We rate the claim that photos prove the Hawaii fires were caused by a "direct energy weapon assault on the people" False.