No, fires in Hawaii are not related to smart city plans

Context

Social media users on YouTube, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) have linked the fires in Maui, Hawaii, claiming that the fires were orchestrated by the U.S. government to implement new smart cities. Some users also stated that small businesses would oppose smart cities; therefore, the fires were created to destroy them and their economic opposition. 

Users directly link these claims to broader 15-minute smart city plans in various countries and to the World Economic Forum (WEF). They claim that the WEF, through a green agenda, is attempting to lower societal production and implement an authoritarian socialist government to control every aspect of human life. Some users have labeled these cities “Enslavement cities.” 

In Fact

There is no evidence that the fires were orchestrated by the U.S. government or the WEF to push smart city developments or destroy small businesses. 

The BBC reports that hurricane winds and dry weather helped to spread the fires, and droughts across Hawaii have created conditions that caused vegetation to dry out and become more flammable. 

According to NBC news, a team from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was dispatched to Maui on August 17 to investigate the exact cause of the fire. It is speculated that power lines caused the fire; however, this has yet to be officially confirmed, and there is no evidence it was deliberate.

There is also no evidence that the fires are linked to smart city development plans or plans to destroy small businesses. Some conspiracy theorists have pointed to the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS), which took place in Maui in January claiming that the event discussed smart cities and, therefore, is evidence that the fires were orchestrated. 

According to the conference webpage, HICSS is one of the longest-standing scientific conferences and brings together scholars from over 40 countries to discuss ideas on information, computer, and system sciences. The 2023 event featured 678 accepted papers, some of which discussed smart cities, but the conference was not specifically about smart city implementation. While it is true that the event took place in Maui, this has been the case for over 50 years and there is no evidence that this year’s event is connected to the wildfires. 

Smart cities are a constant target of conspiracy theorists and often sit alongside conspiracies about the WEF; both are tied to the broader Great Reset conspiracy theory - that the WEF and global elites want to implement a global authoritarian socialist government and force an economic collapse. Conspiracy theorists claim that smart cities are part of this plan to enforce socialist control and enslave the population. Logically Facts has previously fact-checked a variety of Great Reset conspiracy claims and found them to be unsubstantiated.

The Verdict

There is no evidence that the wildfires were deliberately caused or related to smart cities. These conspiracies are related to the known great reset conspiracy theory. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.