From Embers to Rumors: Decoding the Societal Impact of the January 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires on Misinformation

The fires that ravaged Los Angeles in 2025 not only caused considerable material damage: they also triggered a parallel crisis of misinformation, fueled by the strong emotional and symbolic charge that fire carries in the collective imagination. Emblematic fires - whether the Great Fire of Rome (64 CE), the Great Fire of London (1666) or Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019 - have acquired a metaphorical significance in human history that goes beyond their immediate context, highlighting profound social concerns. In Los Angeles, media coverage of the fires of 2025 intensified tensions around inequality, institutional failures and environmental justice, while the emotional dimension of the fire fostered the rapid rise of conspiracy theories. Fake news, such as the elite grabbing of resources, resonated with an American population already marked by distrust of institutions and its elites embodied by the billionaire duo Trump and Musk. What's more, the media's propensity to privilege emotional impact over factual information has only reinforced this phenomenon. To be truly effective, strategies to combat forest fire misinformation must therefore address both the emotional drivers of fire symbolism and the historical patterns that give these narratives their persuasive force. Concerted efforts by scientists (especially historians, sociologists and information and communication specialists), journalists and local players, combined with more factual communication, can help restore confidence and strengthen collective resilience. It seems essential to remember that fire in our civilization represents both an environmental threat and a powerful cultural symbol with deep-rooted roots and imagery, in order to better understand the dual crisis of fire-related ecological disasters and the misinformation that recurrently accompanies them.