Parker Cardwell, who goes by @ParkerCardwell on X, claimed Oregon Fire Trucks were being held up by California Emissions Testing. That was a lie.

Oregon Man and X/Twitter user Parker Caldwell, who goes by @ParkerCardwell on X, is in hot water after claiming that 60 Oregon Firetrucks were being held up in California for emissions testing.

At one point, his tweet had been viewed over 1.4 million times, and even got a reply from X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

After his post had been proven false by the Oregon State Fire Marshall, Cardwell was forced to delete his post and issue an apology.

Check out a copy of Cardwell’s original misinformation tweet below.

“I just heard from my brother, a firefighter of Central Oregon, that the 60 firetrucks the state sent to support the LA fires are being held up in Sacramento for ’emissions testing.’ They likely won’t pass inspection and won’t be able to help… What a joke.”

Linda Yaccarino @LindayaX even responded with two exclamation points, further adding to the post’s supposed authenticity.

Cardwell’s post was quickly debunked when, although he posted his misinformation on January 10 at 3:26 P.M., the Oregon State Fire Marshal posted their strike teams already arrived in Oregon earlier that same day at 9:26 a.m.

That official post only got 68.7 thousand impressions as of this blog post.

At least one staff writer from a news outlet, the Santa Monica News Observer, took the bait and ran a story on it. They’ve since retracted their original story titled “Sacramento Bottles Up 60 Oregon Firetrucks Sent to Assist California Fire Fight, Lacking Smog Certificates,” and admitted the original story was based on an unsubstantiated X.com post.

The Santa Monica Observer admitted to running a story on an unsubstantiated X.com post.

” Our original story was based on a tweet that has since been deleted. The original tweet is below. We’re unable to verify the original tweet, so we’re taking it down. We were asked to take it down because “we can’t have people like you posting misinformation during an emergency.”

Like a lot of misinformation, there’s an element of truth. According to a press release by the Oregon State Fire Marshal, the 75 engines did have to go through routine safety checks with CAL Fire in Sacramento.

“The vehicle safety check process was critical for our teams. With moving this amount of equipment and firefighters, safety has to be our highest priority,” OSFM Agency Administrator Ian Yocum said. “Our Oregon strike teams are motivated, committed to what they do, and excited to get out to the line and help where they are needed.”

Despite the press release attached to their announcement, many replies from concerned users parrotted Cardwell’s misinformation, at which point OSFM had to reply, shutting that misinformation down.

At one point, but only after 2.8M+ impressions, Cardwell’s post was community-noted.

Since Cardwell’s post was debunked and proven false, he’s deleted his post, changed his profile photo, protected his posts, and issued an apology, which is pinned for his followers.

“My tweet was irresponsible. It was wrong of me to post something that I was poorly informed about, it was wrong to make irrational assumptions, and it was wrong to quote invalid information. Nothing I shared nor any information I had was from any Fire Chief in Oregon.”

This was not a time to politicize the issue; rather, it is a time to support, help, and pray. I am incredibly grateful to my home state that they would coordinate and share their resources and servicemembers who put their life…”

Cardwell has a blue check mark indicating he has X.com Premium.

If he had monetization turned on, he may have profited, however small, monetarily and through gaining followers, from the misinformation.

Cardwell’s post also gained the attention of ABC Affiliate KATU 2 who quickly fact-checked Cardwell’s post, too.

6 COMMENTS

  2. You’re reaching. The safety inspections are akin to pre-flight checks before a flight or a semi-truckers walkaround before driving for the day. Are you suggesting that heavy duty fire equipment that normally stays localized go on a 1000+ mile trip (because that’s how long it is from Oregon to California) without safety checks? What good is it if an engine gets all the way their and it’s found out it’s not ready to fight fires?
    Educate yourself. https://www.facebook.com/CALFIRE/videos/949222170699683

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