Red roof house survived Hawaiian wildfire, not associated with Los Angeles | Fact check

The claim: Image shows home that survived January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires

A Jan. 12 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of a waterfront house with a red roof surrounded by a burned landscape.

"This is the home of a Christian in Los Angeles, California," reads the post's caption. "While the houses around him were destroyed by fire, his house remained untouched. God promise in Psalm 91:1-6 was fullfied. you can't imagine how much he cried for joy, knowing he was protected by GOD. Truly, GOD is his refuge (sic)."

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Our rating: False

This image is not associated with the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. It shows a house that survived an earlier wildfire in Hawaii.

House survived wildfire in Hawaii, not Los Angeles

The house shown in the Facebook post received significant media attention in 2023 after it survived a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii.

The image is not associated with the wildfires currently raging in southern California, which have destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 25 people.

Fact check: Which claims about LA fires are true or false? The latest fact-check roundup

Many versions of the claim circulating on social media also include an image of a man wearing a Nike hat and a black face mask, along with another image of a different house with a red roof not located on a waterfront.

The man pictured was interviewed in a segment posted on an Australian news channel's social media page on Jan. 9. In the clip, the man says his home was saved by God, but the rest of his block burned. Visibly distraught, he seems to express concern for his neighbors.

"LA residents in tears returning to ruins," reads text superimposed over the footage. The caption includes hashtags associated with Los Angeles and fire.

The clip does not show the man's house.

The other image of a house with a red roof shown in some social media posts was created by Google AI, according to a Google Image search. Google can detect its own AI images because of a "watermark" that is added when they are created, according to the company's website.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PoltiFact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Aug. 19, 2023, What Saved The ‘Miracle House’ In Lahaina?

• NPR, Aug. 24, 2023, 'Miracle house' owner hopes it will serve as a base for rebuilding Lahaina

• Los Angeles Times, Aug. 18, 2023, The real story behind that photo of a weirdly unscathed house in the rubble of Lahaina

• Google Deep Mind, accessed Jan. 15, SynthID

• Google Image Search, accessed Jan. 15, About this image (archive)

• 7News Australia, Jan. 9, Instagram post (archive)

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Red roof house from Hawaii, not Los Angeles fires | Fact check