A photo of two partially melted cars has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts that claim hot weather in Saudi Arabia caused the vehicles to melt.
Other misleading posts combine the same photo with claims it shows the result of hot weather in other locations, or a forest fire. All the claims are false; the cars were melted by heat from a construction site fire in the US city of Tucson in June 2018.
This Facebook post, published on June 12, 2019, contains a photo of two dark-coloured parked cars with melted rear bumpers and tail lights.
The post has a caption, which translates as: “In Saudi Arabia, temperatures went up to 62 degree Celsius as reports are coming in of cars parked in the sun have their fiber parts melting.”
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
The same photo was also published in this tweet on June 22, 2018 with an incorrect claim that the cars melted due to the weather.
Reverse image searches on Google and keyword searches on Facebook found the same photo published in this Facebook post on June 20, 2018.
Here is a Facebook video post by the Tucson Fire department showing the intensity of the fire.
The caption of the video, which is embedded below, says: “An on-scene look at what our crews battled early this morning during a two alarm fire.
“Cranes, cars, trees, and buildings were all damaged due to the extreme temperatures but most importantly, no one was injured”.
https://www.facebook.com/TucsonFireDept/videos/1934477776584110/
