No, images do not show 'miracle' buildings saved from Californian wildfires

Soofia Tariq January 16, 2025
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Firefighters have battled the flames ravaging parts of southern California. Image by EPA PHOTO

WHAT WAS CLAIMED

Photos show buildings that miraculously survived the 2025 LA fires.

OUR VERDICT

False. The images are either from unrelated wildfires or are AI-generated.

AAP FACTCHECK – Images purporting to show Los Angeles homes and a church miraculously spared by the Californian wildfires are not what they seem, despite claims on social media. 

One of the images is from a completely different wildfire while the others have been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI).

The images have appeared on Facebook as fires continue to burn across LA.

The posts, which are spreading widely among social media users in Papua New Guinea,  are often accompanied by biblical references.

"Among the million-dollar buildings that were destroyed in the fires across Los Angeles, there is one house that miraculously survived in Hollywood," one Facebook post reads.

Facebook post showing
An image from the Maui 2023 fires is being shared as if it's from the LA fires. (Facebook/AAP)

"It stands untouched, while everything around it was burned to the ground. Some say it must be the work of God, protecting this house from the flames."

The post is accompanied by an image of an intact house with a red roof surrounded by black and white, burnt and destroyed homes.

A reverse image search reveals the picture is real but it's not from the LA fires – it's from the 2023 fires in Maui. 

The 100-year-old house, in Lahaina, remained standing while most of the town was destroyed, the BBC reported.

Previously, the homeowners had unintentionally made it fire-resistant by replacing its asphalt roof with heavy-gauge metal, lining the ground with stones, and removing foliage from around the property, the LA Times reported. 

Another widely shared image appears to show a bird's eye view of an intact LA home with a red roof surrounded by the rubble of other homes.