An illegal drone collided with a plane fighting Los Angeles fires on January 9, but there have been no reports of a crash involving such an aircraft, contrary to claims on social media. Dramatic footage spread online showing a plane plunging to the ground was in fact filmed in Chile in January 2024.

A year-old clip of a plane crashing near the Chilean city of Talca has resurfaced online in connection to firefighting efforts underway in Los Angeles.

Al Jazeera posted a similar clip showing the crash in January 2024, predating the California wildfires by a year.

The article noted that the video was from Chile and not Los Angeles, as claimed. We, then, ran relevant keyword searches and found that Al Jazeera also uploaded the same video on their YouTube page on 16 January 2024. It noted that the crash claimed the life of the pilot and at least four people were injured.

India Today found that the video has nothing to do with the Los Angeles wildfires. This January 2024 video is from the South American country Chile.

POV video shared on social media showed a firefighter extinguishing flames in a house in Chile, not California, contrary to claims online.

American tennis player Taylor Fritz is donating the prize money he earned for his first-round victory at the Australian Open — about $82,000 — to relief funds to help people affected by the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area.

The footage in the post is not associated with the Los Angeles wildfires that began in January 2025. It was posted online before the fires started. Multiple Los Angeles area wildfires broke out in early January and continue to burn. Collectively, these fires have killed at least 25 and burned thousands of structures.

Somini Sengupta, a Times climate reporter, on her relationship with the city, its mythology, and a reckoning with disaster.

John Hope Bryant writes about how the solutions—creative, bold, and compassionate—to this devastating crisis are in our hands.

Days of extreme and unusual heat preceded Chile’s wildfires in February of 2024. Temperatures soared to the upper 30s – more than 15 degrees hotter than is normal for that time of year, especially in the valleys and foothills of central Chile.

A post on X purports to show GoPro footage of firefighters fighting wildfires currently ravaging Los Angeles. Verdict: False Footage seen is from a totally different fire, and has been used in viral videos before.