The Many Unhinged Conspiracy Theories About The Wildfires

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Flames from the Palisades wildfire burn a building on Sunset Boulevard

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As of Monday morning, more than 12,000 structures including thousands of homes have been destroyed in the raging California wildfires. Cal Fire reported that 62 square miles in total have been torched. The origination and cause of the fires has yet to be determined, but that hasn’t stopped numerous conspiracy theories from promulgating on the internet.

So far, according to AccuWeather, the damage and economic losses due to the fires in California are approximately $250 billion to $275 billion. Looting, price gouging and scams soliciting donations for fake relief efforts are also taking place.

In addition to all of the structures and land that has been destroyed in California, around half a million people have been without power at one point or another, sewer and water infrastructure has been damaged, around 150,000 people are under evacuation orders, at least 23 people are missing, and 24 have died.

Many celebrities have lost their homes including those owned by Billy Crystal, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Anthony Hopkins, Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Milo Ventimiglia, Tina Knowles, Jeff Bridges, Mel Gibson, Bella Hadid, and J.J. Redick.

One celebrity home in the area that hasn’t been touched by the wildfires, however, is the 17,000-square-foot mansion owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Naturally, because the internet’s gonna internet, that fact spawned a conspiracy theory that Diddy and those associated with him had something to do with starting the blaze. And it’s not just trolls that are spreading the Diddy conspiracy.

Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush suggested, “In situations like [the L.A. fires], I look at patterns. I look at some of the communities involved … how many of the homeowners were on the P. Diddy list?”

She added, “It’s hard to conceive the original fires weren’t triggered from the sky or from the suborbital platform.”

Others are using a video posted in November 2020 by one of Diddy’s alleged victims, Ally Carter, in which she said, “Watch for those fires. Explosions make fires too. Explosions make accidental fires too.”

She also said people will pretend to not understand how the fires started, but it will later be discovered that the fires are “something that’s tied to something, that’s tied to something, that’s tied to trafficking.”

Numerous other conspiracy theories not related to Diddy have also been making the rounds.

Some claim lithium batteries used in smart meters in homes along with copper wiring are causing the fires. Others believe it is a distraction created by the government to take the attention off of all of the mysterious drone sightings that took place just prior to the fires. Another conspiracy theory is that the fires were started by a direct energy weapon attack because palm trees have survived the blaze and a some footage of an object flying in the sky that could not be identified. Then there is the heat attack theory, which questions why “homes are burned but trees are still standing.” And finally, there is the one that claims the wildfires were created to clear land for California’s proposed high speed rail network.

Even Mel Gibson, one of the people who lost his home in California, is spouting conspiracy theories.

“I can make all kinds of horrible theories up in my head, conspiracy theories and everything else, but it just seemed a little convenient that there was no water,” Gibson told Fox News. “And that the wind conditions were right and that there are people ready and willing and able to start fires.”

Gibson would also add, “And then in events like this, you sort of look, well, it is on purpose? Which, it’s an insane thing to think. But one begins to ponder whether or not there is a purpose in mind. What could it be? You know, what do they want? The state empty? I don’t know.”

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