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Obama's Hawaii estate untouched by Maui fire because it's in Oahu | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank   Paste BN

The claim: Post implies something is suspicious about Maui fires missing Obama estate

An Aug. 14 post (direct link, archive link) on X, formerly Twitter, shows a photo of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama and suggests there is something suspicious about the couple's Hawaii home being untouched by the state’s deadly wildfire.

“BREAKING: The Obamas estate was spared from the Maui fires in Hawaii,” reads the post. “Out of all the destruction in Hawaii not a single blade of grass was burned at the Obama estate.” 

 It was shared on X more than 5,000 times in four days. Another version of the claim spread on Facebook.

"DEWing The DEW," reads one comment, referencing a baseless conspiracy theory that a direct energy weapon (DEW) was used to intentionally ignite the fires.

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Our rating: Missing context

The implication that anything other than geography is the reason the Obamas' home went unscathed is wrong. Multiple news outlets have published photos of the former president on a property in Oahu, which is on a separate island more than 100 miles away from the Maui fires. 

Obama's home more than 100 miles away from Maui fires

The wildfires in Maui killed at least 111 people as of Aug. 17 making it the deadliest U.S. fire in more than a century. It destroyed more than 2,700 structures in the historic town of Lahaina.

Obama urged his followers to donate to relief efforts for Maui in a video in an Aug. 14 X post. He uses language in the video that indicates he does not live in an area affected by the fire.

“As someone who grew up in Hawaii, as someone who has taken my family to enjoy the incredible beauty of that island and the hospitality of the people of Lahaina, we now find ourselves mourning the lives that are lost, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families that have lost so much,” Obama says. “The thing about it is though, thoughts and prayers in a moment like this are not enough. We have to step up, and we have to help those families, and we have to help Lahaina rebuild.” 

Fact check: US military deployed helicopters, personnel to help those in Maui

ProPublica reported in 2020 that the Obamas would be the future occupants of an oceanfront estate in Oahu. Photos taken by celebrity photography agency Backgrid and published by outlets that include The Daily Mail and TMZ in 2022 show Obama talking to construction workers at the property. 

The fires have sparked an array of conspiracy theories about their origin. Paste BN previously debunked baseless claims that a directed energy weapon caused the fire and that an image showed a laser beam responsible for the blaze.

The X user acknowledged to Paste BN that Obama's home is not in Maui.

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