Video of helicopter conducting a planned burn doesn’t show Canada wildfires are a ‘set up’

CLAIM: A video of a helicopter dropping flames on treetops in Canada shows wildfires in the country are “a set up.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The footage shows firefighters conducting a planned burn last weekend on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia. The ignition was being used to help contain the fire by taking away fuel, not to spread it.

THE FACTS: As more than 400 blazes burned across Canada on Thursday, social media users misrepresented footage of containment efforts to baselessly claim it shows that the fires were deliberately lit.

A video shared on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter shows a yellow helicopter flying above a forest filled with smoke, as a helitorch suspended from the chopper emits flames. The next shot shows a forest ablaze. Text overlaid on the footage reads: “it was a set up.”

However, the footage was taken from a video shared by the British Columbia Wildfire service on June 4 on YouTube. In the video, members of the fire service explain how they are using “planned ignitions” to fight the Donnie Creek blaze.

In the video, Mike Morrow, an ignition specialist with the service, says firefighters are stopping the conflagration from spreading by using planned burns to rob the fire of fuel. “We’re taking the fuels out on our terms rather than letting Mother Nature guide the project,” he says.

Sarah Budd, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, confirmed to The Associated Press that the clip circulating online matches the video from the planned burn that took place last weekend, on June 1 and 2, on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia.

“When the decision is made to conduct such a burn operation, the wildfire is usually beyond the initial attack stage,” Budd said in an email. “The goal is to remove the majority of available fuel ahead of the wildfire so there’s less fuel available for the wildfire to burn.”

Similar videos of planned burns have been shared in the past to spread conspiracy theories during major wildfires or to discredit climate change.

This Canadian wildfire season is predicted to become the worst on record. The fires burning across the country have already displaced 20,000 people.

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Associated Press writer Angelo Fichera in New Jersey contributed to this report.

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.