A video of a group of people escaping from a wildfire in Canada is being used on social media to claim that those people are activists starting forest fires. This is false. The person who posted the original video on Instagram says he took the footage near a First Nation reserve in Quebec last month and the people in the video are volunteers fighting the flames.
Users on Twitter, now known as X, claimed the footage of a group of people, some wearing masks, standing near and running away from a large wildfire are arsonists who are activists burning the forests intentionally.
A caption on posted by one user said, "Parasite World Order minions are burning down Canada." The same caption accompanied the video on several different accounts.
The post received more than 296,000 views, 3,000 likes and 2,100 retweets by July 24.
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Another user posted with a caption that said, "Crazy Leftists Are Burning Down Canada." The post received more than 66,000 views, 490 likes and 280 retweets by July 24.
The video that was shared on Twitter features an Instagram handle for a French YouTuber and social media influencer who posts videos and photos online to raise awareness about environmental issues.
Urban posted the original video in a reel on June 25.
He says in the caption of his video that he was able to travel to a wildfire only a few kilometres from the Obedjiwan First Nation reserve in Quebec where "2,000 people live there and fight without any help to save their homes."
"These are the Attikameks people who are fearless and who fight the flames 24 hours a day tirelessly," he said, referring to the Atikamekw people who live in the area.
"The day that I experienced is quite simply the daily life of these people!"
Urban posted in his Instagram stories other videos showing volunteer firefighters to prevent the spread of the fire.
Among the videos pinned in his story highlights collection labelled "CANADA," a longer version of the video from his reel shows the group running from the flames toward a truck with a fire hose trailing out the back.
It's unclear when the recordings were taken, but according to reports there were several fires in the area throughout June.
Wildfires causes
This year's wildfire season in Canada has been the worst in recorded history, with thousands of fires scorching more than 111,000 square kilometres of land across the country so far this year.
As of July 24, more than 1,079 wildfires were burning across the county, 665 of which were out of control.
In , more than 15,000 sq. km have burned in the more-populated southern half of the province since the start of the fire season, while more than 30,000 sq. km have burned in the northern zone.
Wildfires have consumed an average of 2.5 million hectares (or 25,000 sq. km) a year across Canada since 1990, according the .
Nearly half of all wildfires in Canada are caused by lightning strikes, however lightning-caused fires account for almost 67 per cent of the land area burned, according to They burn more land because they often occur in remote areas and several lightning fires can be ignited at the same time.
Humans, on the other hand, cause slightly more than half of all wildfires in Canada, but are typically set in or near populated areas, which means they are usually spotted early and can be reached quickly by firefighters.
Human-caused fires are not necessarily set intentionally, with vehicle use, industrial activity, fireworks and discarded cigarettes among the that are known to start wildfires.
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø has previously covered claims that fires in Alberta were being set intentionally by people with a political motivation.
Sources
Claims can be found on X, formerly known as Twitter, (, ) and ()
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Quebec wildfires: more evacuations ordered in northwestern Quebec – ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø ()
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Fire Situation Report of ()
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on average yearly wildfires ()
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No evidence of political motivation behind Alberta wildfires – ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø ()
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