‘Lasers don’t like the color blue’: Why an image of an unburnt umbrella is at the center of Hawaii wildfire conspiracies
After devastating wildfires hit a series of Hawaiian islands, conspiracy theories continue to swirl over the cause of the blaze and its aftermath. One theory that picked up traction online was the idea that the fires were actually started by laser beams from the sky.
Similar theories spread about California wildfires in 2018. One video feeding the idea for the Hawaii fires, since confirmed to actually be a transformer explosion in Chile from earlier in the year, went viral when it showed a burst of light and fire on a traffic-filled road.
Now, some TikTokers think they have more evidence that the fires were started by a laser beam. They’re pointing to a series of blue objects which appear unharmed in footage from the aftermath.
In one video posted by the user @andweknow.zpreston, the TikToker shows a still image of five tall dark blue umbrellas next to a few palm trees. Aside from the palm trees and the umbrellas, everything around looks charred, burnt, and ashy.
“After all the devastation right next to it, but we got these umbrellas and these trees” the TikToker said. “The trees we could justify, we could say you know they’re tall, people can make up all these excuses in their minds on how these two fit the equation. What you can’t make an excuse for is the umbrellas. So are those really umbrellas?”
He then pulls up a video of some drone footage showing what appears to be the same location showing the umbrellas and the palm trees.
“So here’s the question,” he continues. “How could those umbrellas not be burnt? Literally how could these umbrellas not be burnt?”
“There’s nothing you could tell me,” he insists. “I don’t want to hear CNN, fuck all these people. This is impossible.”
“This means that they’re lying, their whole narrative is bullshit. This a hundred percent couldn’t be a fire with this symbol right here,” he finishes, pointing at the umbrellas.
“There is no reason the color blue has anything to do with wildland fire behavior,” Jack Minassian, the Fire Science Program Coordinator at Hawaii Community College in Hilo told the Daily Dot in an email. “However, wildland fires do not burn in a consistent manner but in a mosaic pattern. The blue umbrellas may have been treated with a substance that prevented embers from igniting them. There were unburned structures surrounded by burned structures.”
Another video shows an image of a blue car next to a bunch of other cars completely burned through, looking relatively untouched.
“because seems blue repels radio-frequency....radioactive frequency,” commented @jessi_lezkno.
“It's possible that a DEW laser, if used, could have selectively avoided targeting the blue cars so they don't burn,” proposed @staceface1000.
TikTok user @activateyourpinealgland also weighed in, pointing to something a few other TikTokers pointed out.
She shows an image from an episode of The Simpsons where Springfield gets burned to a crisp. The image from the cartoon shows a blue tarp tied around a statue in the middle of the destroyed town.
“I haven’t seen the entire episode,” she says, “but apparently in the beginning that’s where the laser was coming from. The blue tarp apparently stopped it. Maybe it’s not coming from the sky.”
“Can someone walk up to those umbrellas and open them?” she asks, implying that they might not be exactly what they seem.
“Lasers don’t like the color blue,” commented TikTok user @mama.kym on the video. “My husband went through laser tattoo removal & when they will go over his blue they used a different laser setting.”
Another video posted by many users shows a beam of light running over a bunch of different colored towels. The yellow, red, green and white towels ignite and the laser burns through them. But the blue one only smokes briefly and stays intact. The video originates from the @laser_versus account which purports to show videos of lasers burning holes through various objects like basketballs, lead, and mouse traps. That account also recently posted a video purporting to show the effects of a “DEW” (Directed Energy Weapon) laser on wood, aluminum, and foliage.
“There was something blue they didn’t want to burn” reads a caption on the video. It's unclear, however, if the video is legitimate.
“Why is the government not being exposed on this?” commented @fackinnailedit. “This fire was completely planned and we’re just letting them get away with it.”
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The post ‘Lasers don’t like the color blue’: Why an image of an unburnt umbrella is at the center of Hawaii wildfire conspiracies appeared first on The Daily Dot.