No, these South African firefighters are not travelling to the United States in January 2025 to assist with wildfire response - Africa Check
A video of South African firefighters dancing and singing at an airport is circulating online, with the claim it shows a group sent to the US in January 2025. But it was filmed in 2023, and shows firefighters en route to Canada, not California, to fight wildfires.
A video posted on Instagram and Facebook shows a large group of people in yellow uniforms dancing and singing while holding South African flags. The video was also forwarded to Africa Check via WhatsApp by an astute subscriber who suspected it was shared out of context.
It is captioned: “Wow! A group of South African Firefighters who have landed in Canada to make their way to LA to aid in the Wildfires🥹.”
Los Angeles, or LA, is a city in the US state of California. On 7 January 2025, a series of large fires broke out in LA. By 12 January, the fires had killed at least 25 people and caused enormous damage to the city.
At the time of writing, the fires continued to burn as firefighters from other countries travelled to LA to assist.
But does this video show South African firefighters on their way to join fire crews in California? We checked.
Nothing but the facts
Get a weekly dose of facts delivered straight to your inbox.
