With all the conspiracy theories floating around, one firefighter is doing something about it.
Michael Clark, a firefighter who is based out of Hawaii, took to TikTok to make a video that debunks some of the popular myths and misinformation about the wildfires spreading on the West Coast.
In the video Wildland Mike (his TikTok moniker) posted that went viral, he’s seen reacting to a video from another TikTok user in which she claims that the fires were “planned”.
She first claims that it’s “strange” that the fires stop at the US border and do not continue into Canada. However, Mike responds by saying “you’re looking at a US database map” which means that it “won’t be reporting fires in Canada.” First conspiracy theory – debunked!
Then, she continues to say that we don’t know how any of the fires started, apart from that viral gender reveal story. Mike has an answer to this too, saying: “Campfires, lightning strikes, not very newsworthy.” Second conspiracy theory – debunked!
She then shows a video of a line of half-burned trees near to the Grand Canyon national park. Next to the trees is a yellow hazard warning sign, which she claims is really strange considering they’re just fires. However, Mike explains that he used to work there and it’s fake, “edited” and “is literally not there.” Final conspiracy theory – debunked!
Clark wants to help combat the misinformation that seems to be prevalent on the internet.
“I’ve seen bizarre wildfire conspiracies before, but this one stuck out to me,” the 27-year-old told CNN.
“I don’t want anyone to think of her [the woman who he responded to in his video] in a bad way,” Clark said. “But just with how much followers and influence she had, I didn’t want people to take this and run with it.”
