It stands in the middle of the ashes, intact. While the fires ravaging Los Angeles are not yet all out, an impressive image is circulating on social networks. This is an aerial shot showing a neighborhood reduced to ashes, by the sea. Only one house seems to have escaped the fire and brings a touch of color to the image, with its red roof and its white walls.
Among all the images of desolation shared in recent days, this image stands out and is seen as a symbol of hope by some Internet users. « The only house that didn’t burn in the fire that ravaged Hollywood. A strong message sent to all humanity”writes the author of the post in the description. Problem: this house is not in Los Angeles, but in Hawaii, and the photograph dates from 2023.
Maui island ravaged by flames
The United States is no stranger to wildfires. In August 2023, flames ravaged the island of Maui, in the US state of Hawaii, causing spectacular destruction and the deaths of at least 97 people. But in the small coastal town of Lahaina, one house had caught the eye.
This is the house with the red roof in the photo reshared in the context of the Los Angeles fires. While all the surrounding houses had gone up in smoke, this building remained standing and an image of the miraculous house, captured by the photographer of the San Francisco ChronicleStephen Lam, was widely shared on social media at the time.
In an interview with Los Angeles Timesthe home’s owner, Dora Atwater Millikin, was trying to explain why her house didn’t burn. Although she said she had not tried to fireproof her house – which was also built of wood – she had made some modifications, such as installing a metal roof or eliminating vegetation too close to the house, which would have allowed the building not to catch fire.
Conspiracy theories
The distance which separates it from neighboring houses would also have saved the house, because the fire often spreads from one house to another, explained Susie Kocher, forestry advisor for the University of California daily.
At the time, already, the story had fueled numerous fantasies and conspiracy theories, between those who found it suspicious that the house had resisted the fires, and those who saw it as a supernatural sign. “I think conspiracy theories can develop when we don’t understand how things happen”said the forestry advisor to LA Times.
The image of the house with the red roof, which is circulating on social networks, is therefore very real, but it does not show the consequences of the fires in Los Angeles, but of another disaster, in Hawaii. However, it is difficult not to draw parallels between the two situations, because major fires have intensified in recent years in the United States, due to climate change.
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