FACT CHECK: Do These Visuals Show Los Angeles Wildfires Engulfing the Historic 'Hollywood' Sign?

Was the iconic "Hollywood" sign burnt by the fires raging in Los Angeles County this month? A strange claim accompanied by a series of photos on social media since Thursday in the wake of the catastrophic wildfires in California that has wiped out thousands of acres of land and damaged several iconic strictures.

However, the claim of the iconic Hollywood sign burned by the wildfires is not true. At the time of this report, the sign was confirmed to be "safe and secure" by the organization responsible for its preservation. Images and videos claiming to show the sign engulfed in flames were likely digitally altered and circulated on social media.

The Strange Claim

This claim originated from a post shared on January 9, 2025 which included a video appearing to show a fire behind the historic Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. The caption read: "The view of the Hollywood sign is wicked"

Several large fires broke out in Los Angeles County on January 7, destroying several iconic structures and homes of some of the A-list celebrities. However, the iconic Hollywood sign was not damaged or get burned by the wildfires.

The organization, Hollywood Sign Trust, that is responsible for preserving the historic landmark also confirmed that the sign is intact.

In an email sent on January 9, 2025, Jeff Zarrinnam, chair of the Hollywood Sign Trust confirmed to fact checking website Lead Stories that while Griffith Park, the area surrounding the sign, had been temporarily closed, "the Sign itself remains unaffected and is secure."

The video was likely created using artificial intelligence or simple photo-editing techniques, such as layering transparent fire effects over existing images.

Absolutely No Truth in Claim

Id the video in question was AI-generated was tried to be verified using the detection tool TrueMedia.org. However, the tool returned an "Uncertain" result.

A reverse image search of a screenshot from the video was also conducted using Google Lens to check if it had appeared elsewhere online. No reliable sources confirmed the image's authenticity, suggesting the video is likely fake.

Similar claims about the Hollywood sign being affected by the fire were made in other social media posts, each using different media to support the assertion.

TrueMedia.org analyzed the images in these posts and, in each case, returned an "Uncertain" result. Reverse image searches on the images from these posts were also performed using Google Lens respectively.

Again, no credible evidence was found to confirm the authenticity of these images. The claim can thus be labeled false.