No, the World Economic Forum did not say the Maui wildfires were orchestrated

Is there proof that the World Economic Forum is behind the wildfires that devastated the island of Maui? Did the organization itself admit to it? No, but a video circulating on Facebook said otherwise.

"WEF Admits Maui Wildfires Orchestrated To Transform Hawaii Into 15 Minute Cities," read the headline on a video posted on Facebook Aug. 19.

In the video, a man speaking into a camera says, "The fake Maui wildfires were orchestrated by the globalist elite to poison our air, water and soil and redistribute property into the hands of the elite."

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The video did not show any evidence of the World Economic Forum "admitting" that the wildfires in Maui were orchestrated. The World Economic Forum is a Switzerland-based organization that brings together world business and political leaders annually in Davos to discuss global issues. There are no such statements on the organization’s website or social media accounts. The only mention of the Maui wildfires found on its website was an Aug. 14 update on the death toll.

The video showed a screenshot of a World Economic Forum article published Aug. 20, 2018, titled, "How Hawaii plans to be the first US state to run entirely on clean energy." It said that  Maui’s former mayor was one of four mayors across the state to sign an agreement to operate Hawaii’s public transport system using only clean energy by 2045. 

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It has nothing to do with a so-called "15-minute city," an urban planning concept that has been the target of conspiracy theories falsely alleging they are government plots to control citizens. But the idea behind the concept is to design cities so that residents’ basic needs can be met within a short walk or bike ride from their homes. Some proponents use the same concept but refer to it as a 20-minute city. 

PolitiFact and other fact-checkers have looked into numerous claims that suggest the wildfires were orchestrated to pave the way for such a plan on Maui, and there is no evidence any of them are true.

The cause of the wildfires has not been identified, but the Hawaii Army National Guard pointed to dry conditions, low humidity and high winds as contributing factors. Investigators are also increasingly focused on the role the island’s aging electric power infrastructure played in the disaster.

We rate the claim that the World Economic Forum admitted that the Maui wildfires were orchestrated False.