Australia: Devastating fires have been raging in Australia since September 2019. The number of dead animals has now exceeded the billion mark.
According to the AFP, two other fires have currently merged into one huge conflagration. The fire department in Australia estimates that dry thunderstorms and a strong storm are further fueling the major fire. The situation in Australia is depressing. This is currently going so far that snipers shoot 10,000 camels that are competing with people for the little water in the dry areas.
A sharepic is making the rounds!
Now a sharepic is doing the rounds on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, claiming that the bushfires were deliberately started to cut a path for an upcoming high-speed rail line.
Note: Do you think the earth is flat? Then please don't read any further. For everyone else, here is our fact check:
This claim is triggered by a conspiracy theory from 2018.
As early as 2018, conspiracy theorists had the idea that the fires were deliberately set to drive out landowners in order to clear a path for the construction of the California high-speed railway! (Image 3 and Image 4)
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However, there are the following problems with this California / Australia Sharepic!
One of the problems with this sharepic is that these screenshots were placed next to each other in a very small and compressed manner . The proportions don't match . This creates the impression that the outlines of the fires and the high-speed line coincide. You also have to look closely at the scale here. It makes no sense if fires are 10 kilometers – or more – away from the planned route. A map including the claim made must be viewed in detail and not from space!
It is currently this sharepic:

What can you see in these 4 pictures:
Row 1: CALIFORNIA
Figure 1: This is a so-called “Red Flag Warning” (RedFlagWarning). So it's a map that was published by " CalFire November 11, 2018 Upcoming weather events within the next 24 hours were shown here These weather events CAN result in extreme fire behavior. However, this does not show those areas that were actually burned in the end.
Image 2: In this image you can see a route of the high-speed rail that came from the website “America2050.org”.
If you now take both images and superimpose them, you can see that they do not match. (Animation: Snopes)

Row 2: AUSTRALIA
Image 3: This is an Australian bushfire map that is available on the Australasian Mine Safety Journal website. This map lists all bushfires in Australia. The map uses data from government sources and geospatial satellite information as well as the fire department.
Image 4: This map section came from the Australian Government website. More precisely from “Infrastructure Australia”. This excerpt shows the proposed route for Smart Cities.
A comparison by BuzzFeed News between the federal government's proposed high-speed rail line and bushfire-affected areas shows there is almost no overlap between the two areas.

The associated animation for this map can be found here .
Fatencheck result
The fires in California in 2018 and the current fires in Australia have nothing to do with the respective high-speed routes. The sharepic(s) that were published as alleged evidence are far too small and compressed to make a serious claim. In addition, the creator(s) on Facebook were unable to provide any source or evidence that could have substantiated the claim, even when asked by individual users.
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If you look at the pictures/maps in detail, which Snopes and BuzFeed News have done, you can see that the proportions alone did not match. However, by overlaying both images of the respective incidents, you can see that there is no overlap between the two areas unless you “want” to recognize them.
Sources:
Snopes: Do Recent Wildfires Match Up 'Exactly' with California's Proposed High Speed Railway?
Image 1: Cal Fire / Twitter
Image 2: America 2050 / A Revised Business Plan for California High-Speed Rail
Image 3: Australian Bushfire Map
Image 4: Australian Government
Image 4: Animation / Comparison Map between the High-Speed Rail and the Current Fires in Australia
Interactive NASA world map of current fires in Australia
derStandard: Fires in Australia: Fear of the “megafire”
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