Are firefighting helicopters really shooting flames at burning forests?

Canada is suffering from the worst wildfire season it has experienced in decades which has piqued a lot of curiosity and led to some really bizarre claims about the raging fires. 

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre has registered over 1,000 fires burning all across the country but some people are saying the fires are being started intentionally. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

This isn’t just any claim about arsonists but rather a concerted effort by the government to expand the fires using flames shot from helicopters in the areas burning the fiercest. 

Proof can be found on social media according to some conspiracy theorists and there is one clip in particular that has been raising eyebrows among Canada’s most dimwitted. 

A video showing a helicopter dropping flames on an already burning fire was cut with a few images of a larger fire and made it seem as if the chopper was starting the wildfire. 

Users on Twitter commented that it was proof the government was starting the wildfires with some claiming the fires had nothing to do with climate change, Euronews reported. 

Photo Credit: YouTube @BCWildfireService

"Canada used drones with flame throwers attached to them and helicopters to start fires all across the country, [Justin] Trudeau called it climate change," tweeted one user.

Photo Credit: YouTube @BCWildfireService

However, the news organization noted that a reverse search on the video clip showed it was of a larger video by British Columbia’s Wildfire Service explaining fire suppression.

Photo Credit: YouTube @BCWildfireService

Rather than intentionally starting wildfires, the clip shows fire services using a technique known as a controlled burn in order to halt the wildfire's progress by taking away its fuel. 

Photo Credit: YouTube @BCWildfireService

"If you surround a fire with an area without any fuel to burn, it will eventually go out," an article from Wired explained about how controlled burns were used to stop wildfires. 

Photo Credit: YouTube @BCWildfireService

The video clip from British Columbia’s Wildfire Service showed the province was using a  controlled burn to halt the progress of the Donnie Creek Wildfire in early June 2023. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

“Planned ignitions are an essential wildfire management tactic, used to contain a wildfire by bringing its edge to established control lines and reducing the ability for further spread,” a caption to the video on YouTube read about the fire suppression technique. 

Why wildfires seem to spark conspiracy theories is not well understood but a CBC News investigation into the phenomenon revealed false information and misleading pictures can exploit emotions and lead people to develop irrational theories about wildfires. 

"They are just so visible and so devastating and so violent in their effects, it's really hard for people to not pay attention to news about them,” Samantha Bradshaw of American University in Washington told CBC News about why wildfires presented a problem. 

Bradshaw explained that wildfires provide the perfect opportunity for false narratives to spread. Mike Rothschild is a journalist and author who reports on conspiracy theories and fringe beliefs, and he told CBC News people to believe them to avoid their feelings. 

"What these conspiracy theories do is that they almost absolve people of any kind of human feeling other than anger," Rothschild said. While it’s sad, it is also always best to be informed and not take everything you see on social media as seriously.