As quickly as the Sunset fire started charring through Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, an AI-generated photo of the Hollywood sign ablaze was rapidly circulating on social media.
It was just one example of misinformation surrounding the Los Angeles-area fires spreading on social media, and experts warn that false information during natural disaster events disrupts recovery efforts and harms community trust.
Fact check: The Hollywood sign is still standing and is intact, confirmed Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust.
When Zarrinnam, a resident of the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, got alerts to evacuate the area, he stayed behind to watch over his home and the landmark sign he has a clear view of from his residence.
“There was nothing happening in or around the Hollywood sign itself,” he said. “The fire that was happening was west of the 101 Freeway and the Hollywood sign is east of the 101 Freeway.”
Another social media rumor that’s related to the Palisades fire is that firefighters ran out of water because the Palisades reservoir was empty. Social media users are sharing a clip of an interview where developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, owner of the Palisades Village mall, said the reservoir wasn’t “filled in a timely manner to keep the hydrants going.”
Fact check: One reservoir — the Santa Ynez Reservoir — was closed for repairs. The Santa Ynez Reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water and is located in the heart of the Palisades.
But the reservoir’s closure is not the main reason why hydrants at higher elevations in the Palisades ran dry.
Had the reservoir been operable, it would have extended water pressure in the Palisades on Tuesday night, said former DWP general manager Martin Adams, an expert on the city’s water system. But only for a time. It would have still experienced serious drops in pressure because of the overwhelming demand for water.
During a Wednesday news conference, officials said the Palisades area drew “four times the normal demand… for 15 hours straight, which lowered water pressure.” Three storage tanks in the Palisades hills ran dry by 3 a.m. Wednesday.
“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,” said Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of LADWP. “So the consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line.”
Adams said that the reservoir, had it been used, would have extended the time before pressure dropped but would not have averted the inevitable, given the extreme demand.
Misinformation hampers officials who are trying to provide updated emergency information but have to devote time to addressing false statements or photos shared online, said Jose Ramirez-Marquez of Stevens Institute of Technology. He is the co-author of a recently published study that analyzed public discussions on social media in relation to hurricane warnings and other emergency response information.
During a natural disaster, people are constantly on social media (X, Instagram, Bluesky) and private messaging groups (Whatsapp, Facebook groups) looking for real-time updates because it’s free and fast, according to the study.
Misinformation can emotionally exploit a situation, hijack conversations from emergency information and, in some cases, lead to financial scams, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In most cases, people who are spreading misinformation want to be helpful but aren’t verifying the information they’re passing along, said Iskander Sanchez-Rola, director of innovation for cybersecurity safety network Gen.
As Juvare, an emergency preparedness and critical incident management software company, notes: During a hurricane or wildfire, rumors about road closures, available shelters or the path of the disaster can cause people to take unnecessary risks, endangering themselves and others.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid misinformation, Sanchez-Rola said. It’s unrealistic to expect people to stay off of social media because official sources including first responders, disaster preparedness agencies, local officials and emergency response organizations are relaying their information there.
They can, however, take steps to identify misinformation and avoid sharing it on social media platforms or in private conversations, he said.
He and other sources shared some guidance on how to identify false posts:
Pause. Take a moment to digest what you’re reading. People consume information on social media so fast that they might not recognize when information is not only false but also a scam — a fake relief effort to con vulnerable people for money, for example.
Recognize how a post makes you feel. You might already be feeling a sense of urgency because of the natural disaster, and posts with false information have headlines or captions that are meant to play on those feelings.
Research before sharing. Don’t immediately click to share content you see online without doing a little digging about it first.
Question the source. Check who the author/owner of the post and social media account is. You should also cross-reference the posted information with what local and state government officials, first responders, disaster relief agencies, known nonprofit organizations and trusted media outlets are saying on their official websites. If it’s a charitable organization, you can verify its legitimacy by checking with tools Charity Navigator and GuideStar.
If you’re looking to check whether an image is fake or AI-generated, you can use the Google Reverse Image Search Tool to find the origin of the image or whether it has been edited.
Investigate the issue. Conduct a thorough, unbiased search into contentious issues by looking at what credible sources are saying and considering other perspectives, advises the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
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