Getty Image / Mario Tama
After sending 15 strike crews from Oregon to California to help battle the raging fires in Los Angeles, it took no time at all for misinformation (aka ‘straight up lies’) to run rampant on social media after the fire trucks stopped in San Francisco. A press release from the Oregon Fire Marshal is calling out the misinformation that isn’t being fact-checked in many instances and is asking people to help spread the truth.
To see examples of the thousands upon thousands of posts sharing the flat out lies, just search ‘California emissions’ into the search bar on any social network. What you’ll find are posts from people falsely claiming these fire engines sent from Oregon were stopped/delayed in San Francisco for emissions checks which are required on vehicles in California. That is not at all what happened. Don’t fall for the lies.
The press release comes out swinging and starts with “we want to clear up confusion about our Oregon firefighters and equipment sent to California to help with the wildfires. There is misinformation spreading on social media and from some news outlets claiming our equipment had to pass emissions tests and our equipment and firefighters were turned away or delayed. TO BE CLEAR: THIS IS FALSE.”
More on the press release below, but the simple reason the trucks stopped in Sacramento and underwent safety checks with CAL Fire was to ensure everything was in working order. It had nothing to do with emissions checks despite the lies being spread online.
They needed to ensure that all out-of-state equipment was in working order to prevent any potential catastrophes. How would it have reflected on CAL Fire if they allowed outside crews to come in with faulty equipment and those crews got injured in the process?
The fire crews left Oregon at 8am last Wednesday (1/8) and traveled to Sacramento. Safety checks were performed at 6 am the following morning on Thursday (1/9). Those crews then arrived in Southern California/Los Angeles later that day with no unexpected delays whatsoever.
The press release went on to say “no engine was turned away. They all completed the safety check, and all 15 strike teams arrived in Southern California on Thursday and began their 24-hour shift early Friday morning.” It finished by saying “Please help us share this message. If you see any misinformation, please direct people to this post. We thank you for your support.”
Oregon State Fire Marshal
Would I normally be writing about this type of misinformation on a Monday? Probably not. Do I support first responders and emergency workers? I absolutely do.
The Oregon Fire Marshal is asking for the message to be shared so that blatant lies/misinformation like this, this, and this, all get called out and the truth is told.
Some posts on X appear to have Community Notes added but far from all of them. Again, to see any examples of this just type ‘California emissions’ into the search bar on any social network. The results are appalling with thousands of lies appearing in an instant, all of which are receiving a ton of engagement across the networks.