2017 wildfire video falsely shared as scenes from 2025 Los Angeles blaze

After wildfires swept through Los Angeles, California, on January 7, 2025, an old clip from 2017 recirculated online in various languages with a false claim that it shows a man rescuing a rabbit from the recent blazes. But the footage was first published in media reports about an animal rescue related to the Thomas Fire in La Conchita, California in December 2017. 

"A man tries to save a rabbit from the California forest fire. Wild animals fled to survive while tens of thousands of people had to evacuate from other areas. It is a very heart-wrenching video 09/01/25," reads the Thai-language overlaid text on a video shared on X post on January 9, 2025.

The post -- shared over 8,000 times -- shows a 58-second video containing two clips. The first clip shows a man picking up a rabbit as flames smouldered near them, while the second shows a fawn running through a smoke-filled street.

The first clip has been shared alongside similar claims here and here as well as posts in other languages such as English, Spanish and Indonesian.

The second clip of a deer running is in fact genuine footage of the recent wildfires and was published on the verified YouTube channel of NBC Los Angeles on January 9, 2025 (archived link).

The posts emerged as fast-moving blazes ravaged parts of Los Angeles, leaving at least 24 people dead and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate their homes (archived link).

The fire first hit the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood and spread through the Hollywood Hills (archived links here and here).

Damage from the fire was estimated at $275 billion -- making it one of the most expensive in US history (archived link).

But the first clip circulated in news reports more than seven years ago.

Thomas Fire footage

Reverse image search of the first clip on Google found an identical video published on the verified YouTube channel of BBC News on December 8, 2017 (archived link).

The video's description states that the footage captures the moment a man stopped his car "on 101 freeway in La Conchita" to rescue a rabbit from the wildfire.

La Conchita is a town located in southern California's Ventura County -- dozens of kilometres away from the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025 (archived links here and here).

In December 2017, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties lost over 281,000 acres of land as a result of the Thomas Fire (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the false X post (left) and the BBC News video on YouTube (right):

Media reports subsequently identified the man in the video as Caleb Wadman, who said the rabbit was brought to a wildlife centre for treatment on burns to its ears and feet (archived links here and here).

Below is a screenshot of Google Maps with elements highlighted by AFP to show the location of La Conchita where the Thomas Fire happened in 2017 and the areas affected by the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025:

The same video previously circulated in false posts linking it to wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in 2019.

AFP has debunked misinformation related to California fires in January 2025 here and here.