Snopes actually has to tell people the Wine Country fires weren't started by 'Mexican drug cartels'

Fire burns along the ridge near a field of grape vines along Highway 12 on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 in Oakmont, CA. Fire burns along the ridge near a field of grape vines along Highway 12 on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 in Oakmont, CA. Photo: Paul Kuroda, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Kuroda, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Snopes actually has to tell people the Wine Country fires weren't started by 'Mexican drug cartels' 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

It may be months before fire investigators are able to determine what caused the devastating and deadly Wine Country fires. But that didn't stop multiple fake news sites from spreading conspiracy theories about causes, even as firefighters are still working to contain the fires.

Fact-checking website Snopes has already debunked one popular rumor: that the fires were "started by Mexican drug cartels in order to gain a strategic advantage over the legal marijuana industry."

The GotNews.com article purporting that theory only cites "law enforcement authorities," "senior Department of Homeland Security officials" and "key people within the legal marijuana business." The story doesn't contain a single quote or named source.

The site also claims the fires' timing was "suspicious," because most wildfires in California "usually occur in December and January, not October." But as Snopes points out, that's simply not true. More fires have burned in October than December or January almost every year of the past decade, as shown by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection data.

Snopes calls GotNews.com "a disreputable web site run by the infamous internet troll Chuck C. Johnson" with a history of publishing "often-xenophobic conspiracy theories."

VIDEO FROM THE WINE COUNTRY FIRES

Breitbart and InfoWars, two far-right websites with much larger followings, helped spread another unfounded story about the cause of the fires, incorrectly blaming them on a 29-year-old Latino man who was arrested Sunday.

"The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) issued a detainer request on the Sonoma County Jail for Jesus Fabian Gonzalez, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of arson in Wine Country fires that have killed at least 40 residents," the Breitbart story reads. InfoWars reprinted Breitbart's story word for word.

Gonzalez was in fact arrested on suspicion of arson, as reported by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, but not in connection with any of the large wildfires burning in the North Bay. In fact, the fire Gonzalez is accused of starting at a Sonoma park was so small that a sheriff's deputy was able to put it out before firefighters even arrived on scene.

The Press Democrat reports that Gonzalez lives under a nearby bridge and told authorities he started the fire because he was cold.

Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano tried to put an end to the story once and for all Tuesday in a press conference, according to the Sacramento Bee.

"There's no indication [Gonzalez is] related to these fires at all," Giordano said. "I wanted to kill that speculation right now, so we didn't have things running too far out of control."

Investigators are still working to determine the cause or causes of the Wine Country fires. As part of that investigation, Cal Fire said it is looking into reports of downed Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines, the Chronicle reported.

"We are investigating a number of potential causes, including whether reports of power lines falling down and electrical transformers exploding Sunday night may have caused some of the wildfires in the region," said Cal Fire deputy director Janet Upton.

"These destructive winds, along with millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter storms, all contributed to some trees, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the North Bay," PG&E spokeswoman Ari Vanrenen told the Chronicle in an e-mail.

There's at least one thing the conspiracy sites got right. GotNews.com boasted that its exclusive "report" linking drug lords to the Wine Country wildfires wouldn't be found anywhere in the "mainstream media."

Thankfully, that part is true.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.