A popular YouTube couple is under fire for allegedly pretending to undergo a mandatory wildfire evacuation all for some video clicks.
According to BuzzFeed, Cole and Savannah LaBrant completely made up the fact that they had to evacuate their Orange County, California home in a vlog titled, WE LEFT OUR HOUSE BECAUSE OF FIRES IN CALIFORNIA.
The video started with Cole telling viewers that Savannah texted him “saying that there’s a huge fire right by our house, and we might need to evacuate.” The video then cut to footage of the very real Holy Fire, which has burned down over 22,000 acres.
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Later on, we see the couple has packed a few suitcases full of their most precious belongings and is ready to get out of danger’s path. Cole tells the audience as a pregnant Savannah nods emphatically:
“I think it’s, like, four miles away. And we just got an evacuation thing.”
Did they, though?
BuzzFeed reports that the LaBrants did not, in fact, get an evacuation “thing,” revealing in an exposé:
“The LaBrants live in Ladera Ranch, California, according to public records… Ladera Ranch is not one of the communities listed as an evacuated area for the Holy fire, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group website.”
Sounds about right.
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Neighbors of the couple also told local press that they were never evacuated, and were naturally downright disgusted that the couple would exploit the disastrous fire for clicks.
And, boy, did these kids sell it. Before they drove off — to a family getaway in San Francisco, California! — Cole painted a picture for the senses, telling viewers from outside his home:
“It smells like fire. It smells like a thousand people smoking cigarettes out here!”
The couple then proceeded to pick up their daughter Everleigh — a young girl who is “scared” of fires, yet completely unfazed throughout the video — and head up the coast to escape the flames.
After getting to San Francisco, which just so happened to be around the anniversary of Cole asking Savannah to go steady right by the Golden Gate Bridge, the video turned into a regular vacation vlog:
Now, the two might want to go on a more permanent vacation — because fans are not letting them get away with this fake evacuation:
https://twitter.com/sammymisky/status/1030529562315112448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1030529562315112448&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fjezebel.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1030529562315112448%26autosize%3D1
Are you at all surprised a YouTube couple would stage a mandatory evacuation?
[Image via YouTube.]
