A video is being shared across platforms alongside claims it shows twin fire tornadoes ripping through California as wildfires torched the Los Angeles area in January 2025. But the clip is unrelated; a reverse image search found it was taken in the state of Wyoming in August 2024, and this was confirmed by the volunteer firefighter who filmed it.

“Fire tornadoes in California,” says a January 11, 2025 post on X from “Sprinter Observer,” an anonymous account that has repeatedly spread disinformation under various aliases.

Similar posts shared the video — a short clip showing two fiery twisters in an open field — across X and other platforms, including Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn.

The posts follow more than a week of wildfires that have razed wide swaths of America’s second-largest city, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes and burning more than 40,000 acres. At least 27 people had died in the wind-driven flames as of January 19.

Video footage shows the extreme weather has whipped up fire tornadoes, towering funnels of flame that can thrash across a landscape.

But the clip of fire tornadoes circulating online predates the California blazes — and was filmed several states away Wyoming.

A reverse image search surfaced the same footage published in August 2024 by a local radio station (archived here).

The outlet cited a Facebook user whose post revealed the video originated on TikTok with Michelle Reinke, the owner of a home decor store in Wyoming and a volunteer firefighter (archived here and here).

Screenshot from TikTok taken January 17, 2025

Reinke posted the video August 23, 2024, with a caption saying it showed the Remington Fire burning through Clearmont and Arvada, Wyoming. “This was my biggest fire yet since joining the Clearmont Volunteer Fire District,” Reinke wrote.

Reinke also posted a trimmed version of the footage days later (archived here).

Reached by Facebook messenger January 17, 2025, Reinke confirmed the footage was hers and captured the August blazes in her state.

“I filmed the video in Wyoming on Aug 22, 2024, as I am a volunteer fire fighter for Clearmont, Arvada, Ucross and Wyarno fire district,” she told AFP, adding that many posts online have tried to “pass off” the clip as a scene from California.

Reinke, who said she licensed the clip to the video-licensing company ViralHog, shared iPhone metadata with AFP corroborating that the clip was captured August 22 at GPS coordinates in Clearmont (archived here).

Google Earth satellite imagery maps the coordinates to an area with what appear to be matching topographical features (archived here). The coordinates are also near those listed on a government website for the Remington Fire (archived here).

The Clearmont Fire District included a picture of the same fire tornadoes as part of an August 25 post sharing photos of the Remington Fire.

Josh McKinley, the Clearmont Fire District Chief, told USA Today he took photos and videos of the twisters and was “standing over the right shoulder” of the volunteer firefighter as she recorded the footage in question.

AFP reached out to McKinley for additional comment, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the wildfires here.