‘Firenado’ churns up flames, debris and fears as ‘incredibly rare’ sight emerges in Canada wildfires that have raged all summer
- The fiery phenomenon occurred during the Downton Lake wildfire near Lillooet on August 17 and stoked fears as the skyline was turned red
- It was caught on video by ground personnel responding to the fire and shared on social media where it has been viewed almost 500,000 times
- A combination of a cold front passing through the province and several days of dry and hot weather led to the perfect conditions
An incredibly rare fire tornado emerged during a wildfire in Canada last week and churned up flames and debris.
The fiery phenomenon occurred during the Downton Lake wildfire near Lillooet on August 17 and stoked fears as the skyline was painted red.
It was caught on video by ground personnel responding to the fire and shared on social media where it has been viewed almost 500,000 times.
The British Colombia Wildfire Service said ‘fire whirls’ are ‘intensely rotating columns of gas and flames.’
A combination of a cold front passing through the province and several days of dry and hot weather led to the perfect conditions for the fire tornado.
An incredibly rare fire Tornado emerged during a wildfire in Canada last week and churned up flames and debris
It’s not clear if the fire tornado led to any injuries of further property damage in the area.
The BC Wildfire shared a video of the fire tornado on social media platform X and explained its occurrence in a series of posts.
It said the ‘unique conditions and extreme fire behavior’ are not experienced in the majority of wildfires in the area.
Footage shows the storm twisting through the sky and tossing flames and debris.
The cold front passed through the Gun Lake area between 3am and 6am, which caused a special set of conditions on the Downton Lake wildfire.
The fiery phenomenon occurred during the Downton Lake wildfire near Lillooet on August 17 and stoked fears as the skyline was painted red.
A combination of a cold front passing through the province and several days of dry and hot weather led to the perfect conditions for the fire tornado
Strong winds from the southwest caused the fires to grow with significant intensity.
The relative humidity value of 14 percent at 4am was ‘incredibly rare to see overnight’ and there was a reduced measure of how much moisture was in the air of 12 degrees.
This was a significant drop of 68 degrees from the night before.
‘With this combination of conditions and fire behavior, fire intensity was more extreme during this overnight period, reaching intensities that hadn’t been seen even during the day,’ the wildfire service said.
This unique combination of high fire intensity, strong winds and air mass instability led to the formation of the fire tornado over Gun Lake.