Several images are circulating on social media claiming that Los Angeles’ iconic Hollywood sign has been damaged by ongoing wildfires. However, a Reuters fact-finding team confirmed that these images were “fake” and that the landmark remained intact, according to eyewitness reports.
Wildfires in the Los Angeles area reached the Hollywood Hills on January 8th, and the Los Angeles Fire Department issued an evacuation order. By noon on January 9, the fire closest to the Hollywood sign, known as the Sunset Fire, was extinguished.
Hollywood Sign Trust Chairman Jeff Zarinnam told Reuters on January 9 that the sign was “safe” and unaffected by the blaze. He also noted that Griffith Park, where the sign is located, was temporarily closed as a safety precaution.
A Reuters photo taken on Thursday also showed the sign intact and no signs of fire nearby. Meanwhile, a fake image shared on the Meta platform incorrectly depicted the sign and its surroundings engulfed in flames.
What did the social media post say?
In a Facebook post, he shared a fake image of the Hollywood sign being burned, with captions such as, “For all the evil in Hollywood, this is a sign from God that He won’t have it anymore!” “The fire has reached the Hollywood sign. Everyone please be careful.”
Some of these posts featured the logo of Grok, X’s AI chatbot that can create images on demand. When prompted by Reuters, Grok generated a similar image of the Hollywood sign on fire, similar to the viral fake photo.
James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters in an email that images with the Grok watermark “are labeled as being generated by generative AI.” In images without watermarks, unnatural lighting and inconsistent compression levels between the fire, background, and signage indicate that the fire was added digitally using either image editing software or AI. He pointed out that this is suggestive.
For the Sunset Fire to reach the Hollywood sign, it would have had to spread at least two miles across the 101 Freeway from its source near Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame.
Los Angeles wildfires: At least 10 people killed
The two largest wildfires currently raging in the Los Angeles area have killed at least 10 people and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and structures, authorities said. They urged more people to follow evacuation orders as new fires spread rapidly.
The Kenneth Fire started late Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, just two miles from a school that is serving as a shelter for evacuees from another fire, and quickly spread into Ventura County. However, the quick and strong response of firefighters was able to extinguish the blaze and prevent further spread.
Approximately 400 firefighters remained on scene overnight to prevent the fire from reigniting.
Hours before the Kenneth Fire broke out, officials expressed hope that winds had calmed and additional help from out-of-state crews helped extinguish two large wildfires in the area. was.
