Post falsely claims officials paid $300K for rainbow fire hydrant | Fact check
The claim: Image shows rainbow fire hydrant that cost more than $300,000
A Jan. 11 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) claims to show a costly and empty rainbow-painted fire hydrant across the street from a row of homes engulfed in flames.
“No water, but look how pretty it is,” the post states. “The paint job cost 341,000 dollars per hydrant. Yes, That’s How Much They Paid.”
The post received more than 10,000 likes in 10 days, and similar versions circulated on Instagram and Facebook.
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Our rating: Manipulated media
The photo was created with artificial intelligence. It originated from a satirical account posing as a fictional California police department. There are no credible news reports supporting the claim.
Image first posted as satire
The post surfaced amid mounting criticism over California officials' response to a series of destructive wildfires in the Los Angeles area. More than 40,000 acres have burned since Jan. 7, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. At least 28 people have died.
As the fires spread, critics pointed to three water storage tanks that went dry in the Palisades area on Jan. 8, restricting water flow from hydrants in higher elevations. The city’s water system was pushed “to the extreme” as firefighters drained four times the normal demand for 15 hours straight, said Janisse Quiñoneos, CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
After two days of blazes, a self-described satire account called River City Police posted the rainbow fire hydrant photo to Instagram.
Fact check: Wildfire victims can get one-time $770 FEMA payment plus other aid
River City is a “fictional city that the California POST uses to depict in training videos,” the satirical Instagram account’s bio states.
POST stands for California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which references River City throughout its training manuals and role-play materials.
“Thank goodness, the River city fire department painted fire hydrants in River city in a paint scheme that can grab the attention of anyone needing to get to a fire hydrant quickly,” the satire account's caption read.
The post didn’t mention how much the supposed paint job cost.
Two days later, a separate account shared the post in question. It included a cropped version of the photo and no mention of its satirical origin.
The Instagram post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where posts created as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Photo created with AI
The fire hydrant in the image doesn’t exist.
The photo was created using AI, several experts told Paste BN.
The satire account's photo included a watermark for X’s Grok AI tool in the bottom right corner. That detail appears to have been cropped out of similar versions shared later on social media.
Walter Scheirer, an engineering professor at Notre Dame whose area of research includes visual recognition, ran the photo through 14 different AI image detectors to determine its authenticity.
“Eight of them indicated a 100% likelihood that the image is fake,” Scheirer said.
Some versions of the photo contained GIFs or recaptures of the image, which can throw off AI detection tools, Scheirer said.
Siwei Lyu, a digital media forensics expert at the University at Buffalo, also examined the photo and determined it was made with AI. Lyu pointed to details that would be impractical if the image were real, including “the unrealistic placement of the fire hydrant on the road instead of on the curb,” he said.
Paste BN previously debunked false claims that California fire victims will only receive $770 in federal aid, that an image shows the iconic Hollywood Sign surrounded by fire, that another image shows the wildfires were caused by directed energy weapons, and that a video shows Mexican firefighters arriving in Los Angeles to help battle fires.
Paste BN reached out to several users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked this claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Paste BN, Jan. 10, 11 dead, 12K structures destroyed as LA fires turn neighborhoods into ash: Live updates
- Siwei Lyu, Jan. 21, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Walter Scheirer, Jan. 21, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Hive Moderation, accessed Jan. 21, AI-Generated Content Detection
- California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, accessed Jan. 21, Current Emergency Incidents
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This story was updated to add new information.