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stated on March 3, 2025 in social media posts:

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area fires were intentional to build a “smart city.”

By Loreben Tuquero March 10, 2025

Wildfires weren’t deliberately set to make way for Myrtle Beach’s smart city plans

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The wildfires in Horry County, South Carolina, are outside the Myrtle Beach city limits.
A city spokesperson told PolitiFact that the sites being considered for Myrtle Beach’s smart city initiative "are already under city ownership," and would require no citywide infrastructure changes.
The South Carolina Forestry Commission arrested a woman who they accused of negligently allowing fire to spread and igniting the Myrtle Beach area wildfire.

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When wildfires spread, so do conspiracy theories about "smart cities." We saw that happen following fires in Maui, Hawaii, California, Canada and Spain’s Canary Islands. Now, social media users are theorizing "smart city" plans — technology-centered plans that aim to increase a city’s efficiencies — are behind South Carolina’s ongoing wildfires.

"Over 175 wildfires have scorched more than 4,200 acres across South Carolina with one of the main areas being Myrtle Beach. It’s just a coincidence they had smart city plans to turn Myrtle Beach into ‘meta beach; right… right?!" text in a March 3 Instagram post read.

"Did you see what is happening in Myrtle Beach right now? Massive fires rolling through the area and reports of erratic fire behavior and insurance companies dropping out right before this all started. Just like we saw in California and Hawaii. Then you look at plans for smart city development in Myrtle Beach, and it all kind of starts to make sense," a woman in a March 4 Instagram video said.

The posts cited a WMBF-TV News clip posted Jun. 6, 2023, in which Howard Waldie, the city’s chief innovation officer, talked about Myrtle Beach’s smart city plans.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

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These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The South Carolina Forestry Commission issued a March 1 statewide burning ban after it said "very low relative humidities statewide, coupled with drying fuels" because of insufficient rain caused 102 wildfire ignitions that day. As of March 10, the commission reported 14 fires burned across 2,931 acres. One, the Covington Drive fire, remained active and the rest were described as contained.

But there’s no evidence showing the South Carolina wildfires are connected to Myrtle Beach officials’ discussions about creating a "smart city."

First, the wildfires aren’t in the city of Myrtle Beach, a vacation destination with a population of about 40,000. The fire started on Covington Drive, a street in the Covington Lakes subdivision that runs alongside Carolina Forest, which is in an unincorporated area about 10 miles outside of Myrtle Beach city limits. The Myrtle Beach Fire Department is assisting in the response.

The South Carolina Forestry Commission arrested Alexandra Bialousow, 40, who is facing charges related to the Covington Drive blaze after investigators said she started a fire to burn debris in her backyard. She is accused of negligently allowing fire to spread.

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"Witnesses reported seeing Bialousow intentionally start a fire in a backyard fire pit that was in close proximity to a tree line within Covington Lakes Subdivision on March 1," the commission said in a press release. "According to the arrest warrant, the suspect ‘did not have an appropriate water source readily available,’ nor did she ‘have any garden tools on hand to control the fire.’"

Myrtle Beach has a "smart city" initiative. A city document providing an overview of Myrtle Beach’s "smart city" plans dated Jan. 31, 2023, used the National Geographic’s definition: "a city in which a suite of sensors (typically hundreds or thousands) is deployed to collect electronic data, from and about people and infrastructure, so as to improve efficiency and quality of life."

The city is developing what it calls a "living lab," a public-private partnership that aims to make Myrtle Beach a development hub for technology entrepreneurs. But Meredith Denari, a City of Myrtle Beach spokesperson, told PolitiFact the plans would not require any citywide infrastructure changes. She said the city plans to build the lab in its downtown Arts & Innovation District.

"There are no fires currently in this area nor anywhere in city limits," Denari said in an email. "All sites being considered for the city’s future living lab are already under city ownership."

The South Carolina wildfires weren’t deliberately set to make way for Myrtle Beach’s smart city plans. We rate that claim False.