Florida Wildfire

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

It popped up on my newsfeed without much warning... an orange fireball picture of a raging wildfire along with the headline, "Out of Control wildfire due to Rocket Enthusiasts burns Housing Development".


My heart sank in my chest as I realized what I was looking at.

Then, after examining the spectacular shots, I took a closer look at the headline and posting.

I had slightly misread it.

A Fire Department had determined that a wildfire that consumed an area known as "The Compound" had been caused by rocket enthusiasts testing a motor.  There was no indication if this was current, local or an older article.

I looked more closely at the photos.  There was no indication that they were actually photos of the fire, OR if they were stock pictures of fireballs and wildfires.  In short, there was no claim that the fire, whenever it had happened, was depicted here. 

But the attention getting photos had done their job...they grabbed my attention and created the impression that model rocketry fans and torched something of value.


Upon reading the article and comments, it became more clear that the area in question was a failed housing development that was the site of shootings, trash dumping, muggings, drugs, teen drinking, and god-knows what else.  In short, it was NOT a subdivision, but a dump area that was also used as a rocket launch site by the local rocket club.

However, it was NOT the club that had caused the fire. A few students from Central Florida University had asked for assistance from the club in conducting a static motor test, and for whatever reason, the club had declined. In short, they refused to participate.

Perhaps it was the tinder dry conditions, the water drought, or the high risk of wild fire. Perhaps they were not familiar with the students...or they WERE familiar... or didn't approve of their actions.

Whatever it was, the nationally sanctioned club was clean...not involved in the incident.

Except that didn't matter to the headline writer.

He identified the cause of the blaze as "rocket enthusiasts"... which immediate translates to "Model Rocketry" in the eyes of the public. 


The source of the article was a station which I determined to be from Orlando, Florida and apparently reported the finding of this fire investigation from the region.  But when I went to the station website, I could find no listing, no posting of the story. In other words, the story had popped up on my newsfeed, but I couldn't find it traced back to the station website.   

At this point, I don't know what to do.  I don't trust the source, I can't find the date of the fire, the location seems nebulous and I'm not familiar with the state.  I am beginning to question whether the fire and investigation is legit at all.  But I can't quite dismiss it.  It popped up on  my newsfeed, which means some algorithm selected it for me to see.  And I still think that this is dangerous.

Real or not, this type of negative publicity can "do in" our hobby. With more and more AI generated "news" and "generic news images" being attached to stories to attract attention, all news is now suspect.

And I don't like it.

This has been the Thrifty Rocketeer saying "Check your sources and don't believe everything to find on the web."


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