After the recent wildfires in Texas, social media users resurfaced a conspiracy theory that blue structures are immune to flames. This time, they’re claiming President Joe Biden knows about this, too.
A Feb. 29 Instagram post shared a clip of Biden speaking at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the video, Biden said, “If you fly over these areas that are burned to the ground, you’ll see in the midst of 20 homes that are just totally destroyed, one home sitting there because it had the right roof on it.”
Text on the video read, “Remember the blue roofs during the Lahaina fires? Biden just seemed to confirm our suspicions.”
(Screengrab from Instagram)
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The wildfire that broke out across the Texas Panhandle is the largest fire in the state’s history, engulfing more than 1 million acres of land and killing at least two people. Hot weather, dry land and high winds fueled the fire’s spread. Authorities are still investigating how the fire started.
The Instagram post takes Biden’s remarks out of context. In a longer clip, Biden talked about climate change and rebuilding after disaster strikes.
“My administration is going to keep building on the progress we’ve made fighting the climate crisis, and we’re going to keep (helping) folks rebuild themselves in the wake of these disasters. And we rebuild to the standards that are up-to-date standards and building codes and the rest,” Biden said.
The president was saying some roofs were intact because the structures were up to code, not because they were blue.
Last year, when wildfires devastated Maui, Hawaii, social media users claimed that directed energy weapons were used to start the fires and blue cars, homes and other structures were the only things spared. However, these claims also are unfounded.
We rate the claim that Biden acknowledged that wildfires spare homes of certain color False.
Truth-o-meter Ruling
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
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The clip takes President Joe Biden’s remarks about the Texas wildfires out of context. Biden was talking about homes being up to code.
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After the wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, conspiracy theories claimed that fire spared structures colored blue. But this is unfounded.
- Learn more about PolitiFact’s fact-checking process and rating system.
Statement
Context
an Instagram postSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Feb. 29, 2024
YouTube, "The White House - President Biden Delivers Remarks," Feb. 29, 2024
The Texas Tribune, "Firefighters rush to subdue deadly Panhandle wildfire before dangerous conditions return Saturday," Feb. 29, 2024
The Associated Press, "Texas battles historic wildfires as snow covers scorched land in the Panhandle," March 1, 2024
PolitiFact, "Fires can hop; directed energy weapons did not spare blue things in Hawaii," Aug. 24, 2023
PolitiFact, "True blue? No. Story about celebs’ paint preferences is fake," Aug. 25, 2023
PolitiFact, "No evidence direct energy weapons caused Maui wildfires," Aug. 18, 2023
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