PolitiFact – Claim that FEMA is burying Maui wildfire victims in a ‘mass gravesite’ started as satire

Wildfires that ignited across Maui County, Hawaii, have killed at least 115 people — making the fires the deadliest the United States has seen in a century.

Now, social media users are claiming Federal Emergency Management Agency employees were instructed to “discreetly bury the dead,” but were “caught” in the act by the U.S. military.

“Marines caught FEMA operatives piling corpses into a mass gravesite at the Maui Forest Reserve,” an Aug. 23 TikTok video that has been liked more than 335,000 times claimed. 

TikTok identified this video as part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, misleading or false content. (Read more about PolitiFact’s partnership with TikTok.)

The person in the TikTok video points to an article, headlined “Military Arrests FEMA Deputy Administrator Eric Hooks,” as evidence. But the article is from Real Raw News, a website that regularly publishes fabricated stories and includes a disclaimer that it “contains humor, parody and satire.” PolitiFact previously debunked the headline of the same story, about the arrest.

More than 1,000 FEMA employees, including 430 search and rescue team members, are on Maui helping coordinate disaster relief. FEMA has worked alongside hundreds of Defense Department employees and military service members, including U.S. Marine Corps members, to support the community. We have debunked other claims about FEMA’s activities on Maui.

FEMA and the Marines did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. We found no credible news reports to back this claim.

We rate it Pants on Fire!