FACT CHECK: Facebook Image Purporting To Show Church That Survived California Fires Is AI-Generated

An image shared on Facebook claims to show a church that purportedly survived the recent fires in California.

Verdict: False

A content detection scan using the website “Hive Moderation” reveals the image is 98.6% likely to have been generated with artificial intelligence (AI). An AI expert confirmed the image is not authentic to Check Your Fact via email.

Fact Check:

Firefighters have “contained 52% of the Palisades Fire” and “81% of the Eaton Fire,” according to Forbes, which cited Cal Fire. President Donald Trump will visit California on Friday, the outlet reported.

The Facebook image claims to show a church that purportedly survived the recent fires in California. In the image, the church appears to be surrounded by the charred remains of the fires. A cloud of smoke is also visible in the background. Besides Facebook, the image circulated on X, where it has amassed over five million views as of writing.

The claim is false. A content detection scan using the website “Hive Moderation” reveals the image is 98.6% likely to have been AI-generated. The image may have been generated using AI programs Stable Diffusion, Flux, or Midjourney, according to the results of the same scan.

Likewise, Check Your Fact did not find the image referenced in any credible news reports about the recent fires in California. Actually, the opposite is true. Both Newschecker and the Digital Forensics, Research, and Analytics Center (DFRAC) debunked the claim, indicating the image is AI-generated. (RELATED: Video Of Man Saving A Rabbit From Los Angeles Fire Taken In 2017, Not 2025)

Furthermore, Dr. Walter Scheirer, an AI expert at the University of Notre Dame, confirmed the image is not authentic to Check Your Fact via email.

“This image is very likely the product of a generative AI algorithm. Given that it looks somewhat realistic, I performed a technical analysis using a collection of state-of-the-art generative AI detection algorithms. Four algorithms indicated that this image was AI generated with a very high likelihood. Further, this image was not published by the professional news media or an official source. It is only circulating online in social media posts, mostly coming from accounts claiming to be from outside of the United States,” Scheirer said.

Although the image is AI-generated, multiple houses of worship, including the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, were destroyed by the recent fires in California, according to The Associated Press. At least 27 people have been killed as a result of the natural disaster, the outlet reported.

Check Your Fact has contacted an AI expert for comment.