No, 'Technocratic Elites' Aren't Burning the West With Weather Weapons

The video isn't what it claims to be: it's authentic footage of wildfire devastation in France, filmed by wildlife photographer Marina Scalgia and posted to TikTok on July 24 — three days before Price repurposed it to claim western wildfires were deliberately set ^[1][2].

The underlying physics claim doesn't hold up either. Phil Austin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of British Columbia, said current weather patterns trace to carbon dioxide emissions driving drought across western North America and Europe, and called the idea that cloud seeding could cause wildfires "physically impossible," adding "the energy involved and the scale are way beyond the capabilities of humans" ^[1]. Neil Craik, an environmental law scholar at the University of Waterloo, said real-world geoengineering remains "small-scale and experimental," confined to "laboratory-based or modelling" work, and that its actual impact "would not cause fires or exacerbate them" ^[1][2]. Natural Resources Canada attributes wildfire vulnerability to warmer, drier conditions that raise both ignition risk and fuel spread — a climate-change signature, not a weapons signature ^[1][2]. Independent scientists reach the same conclusion: nothing about current geoengineering or cloud-seeding technology can start or spread wildfires.

The Price post is one entry in a much larger wave of AI-assisted wildfire misinformation this fire season. During Ontario's worst wildfire season on record — one that burned two Indigenous communities — fabricated maps circulated showing a fictional province called "Onjebio," Ontario relocated to the West Coast, and Quebec superimposed over the southern U.S. ^[3]. Other posts falsely claimed 10,000 people were under evacuation order in Alberta on July 16 and showed AI-generated images depicting all of Ontario "burnt to a crisp" ^[3].

Agence France-Presse verification journalist Gwen Roley, reviewing one fake map, said "the labels on it were really wonky, and the symbols for the wildfires didn't make sense" ^[3]; the BC Wildfire Service has separately warned about AI-generated wildfire images circulating in both 2025 and 2026 ^[3]. Carleton University's Chris Russill says X has become especially conducive to what he calls "planned crisis conspiracies" since its 2022 change in ownership ^[2]. Real, catastrophic wildfires are being used as raw material for an escalating wave of fabricated maps, images and conspiracy claims.

The claim that wildfires are being deliberately engineered via directed energy, cloud seeding, or geoengineering is false ^[1][2]. The viral footage cited as proof shows real wildfire damage in France with no connection to the claim ^[1][2], and the scientists who study weather modification and fire behavior say the technology to cause fires this way doesn't exist ^[1][2]. Mebro rates this claim FALSE.