The Weather Channel has confirmed it has not shared images of human remains in the aftermath of the LA wildfires after viewers claimed to have seen a body.
TV viewers said the rubble on screen looked like a dead person, but The Weather Channel has since told DailyMail.com it was rubble from a destroyed house.
A spokesperson said: ‘These claims on social media are inaccurate and completely false.
“We have 100% confirmed that the video shows debris from the aftermath of a house fire and nothing else.”
On Wednesday, several social media users claimed to have seen a dead body in the aftermath of fires in Los Angeles.
Allen Media Group, owner of The Weather Channel, later sent photos of the discovery from a different angle, clearly showing debris.
Concerned viewers of The Weather Channel claimed to have seen a dead body on screen amid the rubble of California’s wildfires, but channel bosses have confirmed it was harmless debris
The Weather Channel shared high-resolution images of the same debris from a different angle
Another photo confirming that the rubble is just the destroyed contents of a house destroyed by the fire
A perfect storm of overgrown vegetation, dry conditions and uncharacteristic winds are responsible for causing the most destructive wildfire Los Angeles has ever seen
Firefighters began making progress early Thursday in the battle against the deadly and devastating fires in the Los Angeles area, especially as intense winds fanning the fast-moving flames are expected to slow.
On Wednesday, hurricane winds blew up coals, setting fire to block after block in the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and in Altadena, a community near Pasadena. Planes were grounded for a while due to the wind, which hampered firefighting efforts.
Nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed in these fires – called the Palisades and Eaton fires – and that number is expected to grow. The five deaths recorded so far were from the Eaton fire near Pasadena.
More than 100,000 people have been evacuated and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles (70 square kilometers) — about the size of the city of San Francisco.
The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
In Pasadena, Fire Chief Chad Augustin said the city’s water system was stressed and further hampered by power outages, but even without those problems firefighters would not have been able to stop the blaze due to high winds.
“Those erratic gusts of wind threw the embers miles ahead of the fire,” he said.
Still, questions arose about what caused some fire hydrants to go dry and what caused the water system to fail when it was needed most.
More than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders and the fires have consumed about 70 square kilometers.
Nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed by these fires
The dramatic level of destruction was evident from a comparison of satellite images before and after the fire.
About 250 houses in Altadena, dotted with green trees, were reduced to rubble. Only a few houses remained, some still on fire according to images from Maxar Technologies. Only a handful of 70 wall-to-wall homes towering over the Pacific Ocean in Malibu appeared intact.
A perfect storm of overgrown vegetation, dry conditions and unusual winds are responsible for causing the most destructive wildfire Los Angeles has ever seen.
Officials believe the fire started as a small spark as part of an accidental fire in the backyard.
But due to the tinderbox conditions, it only took a matter of hours for the fire to get out of control.
The forecaster estimates that between $52 billion and $57 billion in preliminary damages and economic loss have been incurred as a result of the fires.
Firefighters from several states have now been called in to help battle the flames, which show no signs of abating.
According to Accuweather, the devastation caused by the Los Angeles wildfires has already cost the city $57 billion.
Many of the razed homes were in the Pacific Palisades, a celebrity enclave where the average cost of a home is as much as $3.4 million.