SoCal Youtubers Posted Fire Evacuation, Accused Of Faking It

LADERA RANCH, CA — Their bags were packed, and they did leave their home during the Holy Fire. But the young Ladera Ranch Youtubers Cole and Savannah LaBrant, who carry an audience of about 6.7 million subscribers, weren't fleeing for their lives. The LaBrant family was not evacuated, as they alluded to millions of viewers on their Youtube channel, a fact that has escaped some and annoyed others.

The pair posted a frantic video with the subject "We've Left Our House Because Of Fires In California," but there is only one problem. They were not told to evacuate.

Now, Buzzfeed and other websites are accusing them of pretending to "fake" a mandatory evacuation of their Orange County home. Whether or not they actually received an evacuation notice, they were obviously ready for a fun family vacation on that scary first week in August.

Cole LaBrant published his video one week later, a highly produced account that is more of a reminiscence of the Holy Fire experience from their family's point of view. The pair recorded a mashup of the events that began with the fire in Trabuco Canyon and ended with a lovely little vacation to San Francisco.

"We just got an evacuation thing," Cole said in the video. "We packed everything that we don't want to burn up." Two small suitcases was all it took to gather what mattered most to them, according to the video.

The Holy Fire, which began on Aug. 6, was a major concern for south Orange County residents, including the LaBrants. All were watching to see which way the fire and smoke were going to blow, though Riverside County residents faced the brunt of the evacuations.

On the afternoon of Aug. 8, many residents in Orange County did receive an erroneous evacuation alert, due to a faulty Red Cross Emergency App notification. That notification was quickly removed, the Red Cross has said. Still, many area residents were confused and concerned during that time. Aside from residents of Trabuco Canyon, where the Holy Fire began, no other evacuation notices were given, according to authorities.

During the Holy Fire, the south Orange County air was thick with smoke, though we aren't quite sure what a thousand cigarettes smells like, as Cole pointed out in his video. With a pregnant wife and a small child, no one can fault the pair for opting to take a road trip. According to BuzzFeed, some did have issue with using the fire for views on YouTube.

The video's publish date of Aug. 13 was a solid week after the Holy Fire began. Cole shares containment rates for the fires burning in northern California, where they were vacationing, and which is indeed the largest fire to ever burn in California's history. He may have seen that on the news, as they were vacationing in the smoke and bitter air quality of Northern California.

Fire is scary, that is no joke, however neighbors weren't thrilled with the allusion to danger to south Orange County homes. With millions of viewers from all over the world it, can be confusing for those who just know the state is burning.

"We were only gone for two days," Cole updated his viewers at the end of the video, when he gives the all clear to his fans.

He did do a shout out to the firefighters and asked viewers to "pray for everyone in California," which is always a good thing.