California fire has been burning Los Angeles since January 7, 2025. The fire has killed 24 people so far, leaving over 1.5 lakh displaced.
In the above backdrop, a video is being widely shared on social media in which an aeroplane can be seen burning. Those sharing the video claim that the plane was burnt due to the California wildfires.
A social media user shared the video and wrote, “A firefighter plane also caught fire! A plane that went to help extinguish the fire in Los Angeles burned and crashed.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is from Chile in 2024.
On a Google reverse image search, we found the same video uploaded by Al Jazeera English on January 16, 2024. The video was published with a caption that stated a plane crashed on a highway in Chile which claimed the life of the pilot and injured at least four people.
We found the same video published by The Telegraph on January 16, 2024. The video showed a Chilean firefighter plane crashing into a road after hitting electricity poles while flying low. The incident took place on a road near the Panguilemo Aerodrome in Talca, a commune in Chile’s Maule region.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video is old and unrelated to California wildfire.
