Climate activists took to social media and objected to ABC's original headline
Biden set to address Maui wildfires after criticism
‘Outnumbered’ panel discusses President Biden finally addressing catastrophic Maui wildfires and the federal assistance going to the area.
ABC News appeared to update a headline about climate change and the Maui wildfires following some backlash on X, formerly known as Twitter, as the original headline read, "Why climate change can't be blamed for the Maui wildfires."
The updated headline now reads, "Why climate change can't be blamed entirely for the Maui wildfires."
The article says that "Climate change may have amplified the conditions," but notes that it can't be blamed entirely.
ABC News also quotes Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who said, "That level of destruction, and a fire hurricane, something new to us in this age of global warming, was the ultimate reason that so many people perished."
People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (Alan Dickar via AP)
"Not only do ‘fire hurricanes’ not exist, but climate change can't be blamed for the number of people who died in the wildfires," the ABC News report reads.
The article cited Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who said that climate change may have "nudged" the "conditions that contribute to making wildfires more severe." However, according to the report, "it is unclear how much of a role that played in the Maui fire event."
Emily Atkin, a climate reporter and founder of the "HEATED" climate newsletter, knocked the story as being "well technically framing," which "serves to help absolutely no one except the people trying to downplay and deny climate change."
"CliMaTe chAnGe mAy hAvE aMpLifiEd tHe coNdiTioNs ThAt LeD tO tHe iNfeRno BuT iT cAn NoT bE bLaMeD."
— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) August 14, 2023
Seriously, that's like saying "massive infection may have made the wound worse, but it cannot be blamed!!"
Dawg - NO ONE IS SAYING THE INFECTION CAUSED THE WOUND. pic.twitter.com/gRHBg6rB2q
"ABC's story is contrarian click-bait bulls--- that exists solely to ‘debunk’ an argument about ‘causation’ that no one actually talking about the role of climate change is making," she added.
The Daily Signal's investigative columnist Tony Kinnett called out the headline change.
ABC News: Changing your article because a pack of angry baristas didn't like the data. pic.twitter.com/Hcq1nsVILn
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) August 16, 2023
Governor of Hawaii Josh Green, left, and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, Jr., speak during a tour of wildfire damage on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
WHITE HOUSE SHOOTS DOWN CRITICS OVER BIDEN'S 'NO COMMENT' HAWAII RESPONSE
Gov. Green spoke to MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart on Sunday and described the wildfire as a "fire hurricane" with gusting 80 mph winds and "1,000-degree heat creating fire cyclones going through buildings."
"When fire jumped from one spot to another – there were three or four fires going on at the same time – it got seeded very quickly with those 80 mph gusted winds," he said. "And then the fire moved at essentially a mile per minute, 60 mph down through the community."
"That’s what a fire hurricane is going to look like in the era of global warming," Green said.
An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina along the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
ABC News did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
