Posts falsely claim California wildfires were planned to remake Los Angeles ahead of 2028 Olympics

As the devastating Southern California wildfires continue to burn, some social media users claimed the fires were intentionally set to remake Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

A Jan. 10 Instagram video’s caption said, “These fires were all planned to turn the Pacific Palisades region and those hills along Malibu into a Smart City in preparation for Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.”

The person speaking in the video said the fires were “planned” and “absolutely an attack.”

As evidence, the person pointed to “shut off” fire hydrants and funding cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department. But that’s misleading. Hydrants ran dry during recent firefighting because the city’s water infrastructure was not built to respond to fires so large. And Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass approved budget cuts for the fire department, but later signed off on pay increases for firefighters.

Other users on Instagram and Threads made similar claims. Some of these posts showed a picture of Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood before the fires, with text reading, “Watch them build the Olympics right in this area.”

Another Threads post shared what it called a “conspiracy theory” about turning Los Angeles into a “smart city” ahead of the 2028 Olympics by “burning it down to make way for an entire fresh rebuild.”

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The “smart city” part of this claim is not new. PolitiFact rated as False a claim that the California wildfires “are a deliberate criminal land grab in preparation for Agenda 2030 and smart cities.”

We’ve also previously fact-checked “smart city” claims about the wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and Spain’s Canary Islands. Installing smart city technologies — which collect information to help cities run more efficiently — does not require destroying existing infrastructure.

State and local officials said at a Jan. 13 press conference that the Los Angeles wildfires’ cause remains under investigation. High winds and dryness in Southern California have fueled the fires’ spread.

Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2028, a decision city officials and the International Olympic Committee cemented in 2017.

Los Angeles does not plan to build much infrastructure for the 2028 Summer Games,  contrary to social media users’ claim.

The LA28 website’s FAQ page says the Summer Games are “designed to fit the city as-is,” utilizing Los Angeles’ existing venues and temporary facilities. The site says the 2028 Summer Games “will be the first-ever Games to not build permanent infrastructure.”

The University of California, Los Angeles campus is to host the athletes’ living quarters, the website says. Existing Los Angeles venues and in the surrounding area will host the sporting events. Two venues in Oklahoma City are also listed as Summer Games sites.

As of Jan. 13, the wildfires hadn’t damaged any of the more than 80 venues designated for the 2028 Olympics. The venues listed on the LA28 website are not in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood or Malibu, California.

We rate the claim that the Los Angeles wildfires were planned in preparation for the 2028 Olympics False.

By

Sara Swann

Digital Research Analyst

January 14, 2025

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• Los Angeles officials have said the city will use existing venues and temporary facilities to host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The city does not plan to build any permanent infrastructure for the games.

• Officials are still investigating the cause of the Los Angeles wildfires.

• Social media posts making the claim pointed to misleading evidence.

Statement

The Los Angeles wildfires were planned in preparation for the 2028 Olympics.

Context

a post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Instagram posts

Statement Date

January 10, 2025