In January 2025, a video went viral on the RuNet, allegedly showing the deputy head of the fire service of an American state where fires were raging. We have verified the authenticity of this entry.
In numerous social media posts, the viral 26-second video is captioned something like, “Nothing fancy, just a California deputy fire chief dancing on stage.” The authors of some publications left additional comments. For example, in the Telegram channel Voblya (159,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) it says: “The whole degradation of Pendosia in one video.” “Any questions about what’s wrong with firefighting?” - added a channel Rus_criminal (131,000 views). The authors of these posts appear to believe that firefighters should not take ballet and perpetuate the narrative that firefighters in the United States are hired based on diversity and inclusion rather than professionalism. But it seems that not everyone shares this opinion. For example, a similar entry to “Peekaboo"(17,000 views) received 135 comments, where the vast majority of users positively assessed the supposed firefighter's hobby.
According to the TGStat service, at the time of writing this analysis, more than 330 Russian-language posts on this topic appeared on Telegram, with a total of 2.5 million views. Videos with similar captions were posted by the channels “Uncle Slava"(223,000), "Bottle"(171,000), "Ivan Utenkov" (158,000), "Gossip"(110,000), "First People's"(107,000), "Mislivets Egor"(86,000), "Tough of the day"(86,000), "Gasparyan"(85,000), etc. Posts about a dancing fireman can be found on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), Instagram*, Threads* And LiveJournal. In addition, similar publications are distributed to Italian, English and other languages.
Since January 7, 2025, massive fires have raged in Southern California, destroying thousands of homes and other structures. At the time of writing this analysis, it is known that died at least 27 people, more than 30 more are listed missing. At the same time, a natural disaster accompanied by numerous fakes and disinformation.
Fact checkers from the Georgian project “Myth Detector” installed The identity of the person captured in the viral video. It turned out to be dancer Kuadio Davis originally from from Oneonta, New York. In 2024 article The New York Times mentioned the artist as a member of the ballet company of the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York City. According to the artist's profile on website of this theater, Davis is a professional dancer who studied at ballet schools and participated in dance competitions.
Davis is actively leading page on Instagram, where he regularly shares videos of his training and performances with 17,000 subscribers. Video that went viral amid fires in California, dancer published back on January 3 with the hashtag #balletaddiction (#balletaddiction). “Verified” did not find any mention of the fact that Davis, in parallel with the New York theater, works as a deputy chief of the California State Fire Department, in his profile and other sources.
The current director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is Joe Tyler, who has worked there for over 30 years and appointed for this position on March 4, 2022. On the official website of the department there is chapter, which presents the leadership of the department. According to him, Tyler's first deputy is Analee Burlew, who began her career in the fire service in 1998. The list includes other deputy directors in various areas, but Kuadio Davis is not mentioned among them.
Previously, English-speaking right-wing speakers, including a billionaire Elon Musk, cited DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies when recruiting firefighters in that state (particularly in Los Angeles) as one of the main reasons for the devastating fires in California. The Russians talked about the same thing. Telegram channels, Media and TV presenters, including Vladimir Solovyov.
Experienced firefighter Mike Beasley leading Board of Directors of the United Firefighters for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, in a commentary for National Public Radio also said, which does not believe DEI is linked to the spread of wildfires. “No fire department would sacrifice training and fundamental firefighting practices for DEI training,” Beasley said, noting that inclusive teams are better able to cope with complex tasks, work under pressure and build public trust during emergencies. In his opinion, the fires will be extinguished only when the extreme winds begin to subside: “There are not enough people who can stop all the fires at the height of the hot and dry season, taking into account the arid climate. It simply doesn't exist. With such winds Santa Ana You just need to get people out of the way.” Beasley said the disaster should spark discussions on a variety of topics, including climate change, water management, housing and other shortages of personnel and water, as well as high winds. talked and other experts and heads of departments.
The earliest publication with a viral video accompanied by a false explanation was discovered by “Verified” in the Telegram channel of the Russian publication Avia.Pro (21,000 views). The post will appear there on January 11, 2025 at 12:56 Moscow time. However, we cannot exclude that there are older records (including in foreign languages) that could not be found.
Thus, the viral video shows not the deputy chief firefighter of California, but a professional dancer from New York who published the video on his social networks. “Verified” has already examined several other false reports about California fires. Among them are fake photos and videos that allegedly show dark-skinned maraudersengulfed in flames Hollywood sign and burnt "Oscar" In addition, we refuted publications according to which Los Angeles firefighters extinguished the fire by drawing water into handbags, and the fire in California could not be extinguished because the fire-fighting equipment was sent to Ukraine.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Instagram and Threads, an extremist organization, its activities and symbols are prohibited on the territory of Russia.
Cover photo: @yung_x_lois (Instagram)
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