Two clips in a Facebook video don’t show Los Angeles wildfires; they were taken in other countries

A video montage on Facebook opens with a clip of burning land. It cuts to another clip showing several buildings bathed in red. It cuts to another video showing a swath of burning structures.

A social media user claimed these clips show the destruction of the greater Los Angeles area wildfires, which have killed 24 people, as of Jan. 16. Five fires remained active.

"Wildfires in Los Angeles, California, today omg everything is burning, big fire," the text in the Jan. 10 Facebook reel read.

(Screenshot from Facebook)

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But at least two of the clips don’t show the Los Angeles wildfires.

One clip shows a brightly lit billboard among other buildings; it is a familiar one to fact-checkers. PolitiFact debunked posts in 2023 that used the same video to claim the scene occurred in Gaza. But it happened in Algiers, Algeria, where soccer fans have been known to celebrate victories with red flares and fireworks. 

Another clip of buildings in flames shows the recent Kantamanto Market fire that happened in Accra, the capital of Ghana. TikTok user @kasimofori0 uploaded it Jan. 2. The Facebook video blocked the text in the original video that said, "Kantamanto is burning, God have mercy."

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stated on January 8, 2025 in social media posts

Image shows the Hollywood sign was on fire as of Jan. 8.

In @kasimofori0’s original video, he says in Twi, a language spoken in Ghana, "This is too much. The whole of Kantamanto. I have never seen anything like this before."

PolitiFact was unable to confirm the source of the video’s first clip, but it looks similar to a video of an Iceland volcano erupting in late November 2024. 

The video shows clips that are not related to fires in the greater Los Angeles area. We rate it False.

PolitiFact Staff Writer Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu and Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.