An AI-generated video falsely claiming that a flat in Noida’s Aranya Society had caught fire sent 20 fire department teams and police officers to the high-rise before authorities established that no fire had taken place.
The video claimed that an air-conditioner explosion had caused a fire in a flat on the 21st floor of the society in Sector 119. It was posted on X and spread rapidly across multiple accounts, prompting an emergency response from Gautam Buddh Nagar and neighbouring districts.
Pradeep Kumar Chaubey, chief fire officer of Gautam Buddh Nagar, said the fire department received information after the video was posted online. Given the reported location and the possibility of a high-rise residential fire, teams were dispatched to Aranya Society along with several police officials.
According to the fire department, 20 teams from four districts reached the society and inspected the premises, including the flat identified in the video. Their inspection found no evidence of a fire or an air-conditioner explosion. Authorities then examined the video and concluded that it had been created using artificial intelligence and depicted a completely fabricated fire incident.
The episode shows how a false digital alert can quickly become a physical emergency for city agencies. A claim involving a high-rise building can trigger a large-scale response because fire officials must treat the possibility of an active incident seriously until the location is checked. In this case, the deployment involved teams from multiple districts as well as police personnel.
Police said the video had been posted from several X accounts. The Cyber Police Station has registered a report, and investigators are working to identify the accounts that uploaded and circulated the footage. They are also examining who created the video and whether others were involved in spreading it.
The video was posted from an account identified as “Sachin Kashyap Journalist”, according to the police information cited in the report. The authorities have not disclosed the sections under which the case was registered or whether any arrests have been made.
The incident also highlights the operational challenge created by synthetic media during emergencies. Fire departments and police control rooms must respond to potential threats, while verification can only take place after personnel reach the reported location. For residents of high-rise societies, such alerts can also create confusion and unnecessary panic, particularly when images appear to show a specific building or flat.
The cyber police investigation is expected to focus on the origin of the video, the accounts involved in its circulation and the circumstances behind its creation. The authorities’ next steps will depend on identifying those responsible for producing and disseminating the fabricated emergency footage.
