Did directed energy weapons cause the wildfires and destruction in Maui, Hawaii? No, that's not true: There's no evidence the technology was used despite numerous theories posted on social media.
The claim reappeared as a video published by TikTok on August 13, 2023, by a Serbian account called "Teorije.istine" (archived here). The video starts with shots from a helicopter showing destruction in Lahaina, Maui from a wildfire that started on August 8, 2023. The caption in the video reads:
Look what Hawaii looks like after it was hit with direct energy weapons.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Aug 30 06:03:41 2023 UTC)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office describes directed energy weapons, often abbreviated to "DEW", as weapons, such as lasers, that use a range of electromagnetic waves to produce a force that ranges from deterrent to damaging, to destructive. Many countries, including the U.S., are researching their use, but so far none has fielded a weapon capable of firing directed energy from space or from an airplane to ignite ground fires, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.
The report describes the use of a range of electromagnetic waves and includes the following picture explainer:
(Source: Government Accountability Office screenshot taken on Wed Aug 30 06:15:22 2023 UTC)
Another picture explainer gives examples of how the technology is used as a weapon:
(Source: Government Accountability Office screenshot taken on Wed Aug 30 06:17:05 2023 UTC)
As the picture above shows, the weapons currently have to focus lots of energy on a small area to cause the most damage. The wider the targeted area, the less destructive the weapons are due to limitations in power output.
DOD is researching ways to increase the power output of DEWs to engage more powerful targets--like missiles. However, as GAO recently reported, the U.S. military faces challenges bridging the gap between DEW development and acquisition, potentially limiting widespread operational use.
Lead Stories has previously debunked a similar claim and spoke to John Bravender, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Honolulu about the causes of the recent fire in Hawaii.
The fires occurred during a period of very strong winds and low relative humidity. Combined with dry vegetation due to increasing drought, all the ingredients were in place for extreme fire danger. In addition to emergency manager briefings the previous week, NWS issued a Fire Weather Watch early Sunday morning [August 6, 2023] and a Red Flag Warning early Monday [August 7, 2023] morning.
On August 27, 2023 energy company Hawaiian Electric released a statement admitting that the initial fire on Maui started due to a downed power line.
A fire at 6:30 a.m. (the "Morning Fire") appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.
Hawaiian Electric claims that the initial blaze was confirmed as contained by firefighters but later reignited in the same area and spread into uncontrolled wildfires which caused widespread destruction.
