Conspiracy Theory: California Wild Fires Started by the Government?

By: Lynsey Burner | Writer

January 17,2018

Disclaimer: What is written here is just theory, not facts, and is for entertainment purposes.

In October of 2017, wildfires sparked throughout California because of the Santa Ana winds. Although during this time, they were not as strong as they have been in the past. Five out of the twenty fires that began from October to December were the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history. These types of powerful fires are so unlikely during this time of year, people began to question the natural occurence of these fires. 

When you take a look at the before and after pictures of the fires many of the houses and buildings were obliterated and completely turned to ash, when the surrounding area of trees and bushes are perfectly standing. When this came to the spot light scientists speculated that the trees were wetter than usual, which would be why they didn’t catch fire. When researching, there were various viral videos of trees burning. Some things  just weren’t adding up. On top of this, a man living in Sonoma County posted a video during the fires of a tree burning from the inside out. When showing Alexander Perez, a San Clemente High School sophomore, he couldn’t believe his eyes, and doesn’t seem how this is possible in a forest fire. How is this possible some may ask? Usually when this occurs it is because the tree is struck by lighting, not in a forest fire.

Speculation of conspiracy theorists suggest that the government were testing out some war weapons that included lasers, and that is how the fires were ignited. Asking some fellow students what they thought of this theory this is what they said. The government can do and create so many things that can be used in war, and by creating this new form of defense it would create more damage than fire can do. For example, a 1 watt laser can ignite a match. Imagine what a 500 trillion watt laser can do? Which was built at the National Admission Facility in California. Think back to a popular movie in the 80’s called “RoboCop.” The plot of the story is a laser hits California starting many wildfires, at some of the exact locations as they were burning back in December.

If this was an actual fire started by natural causes the damage done to houses would have been a lot less destructive. Asking Maddi Olguin, a senior at San Clemente High School, she agreed that most of the evidence seemed very suspicious and thinks it was not natural causes. Usually, when you look back at homes and buildings that have been through a fire, there is still some of the structure still standing. However, when homeowners came back to their houses, they were burnt to the ground, nothing was standing, just big piles of ash. Even cars were so burnt that glass and the metal of the cars were melted.