Wildfires and tornadoes are terrifying enough on their own, and now they have appeared to join forces near the California-Nevada border.
There, the York fire has been raging, according to Cal Fire. By Tuesday it already encompassed more than 80,000 acres near the Mojave National Preserve.
CNN reported Wednesday that the massive fire was generating extreme activity known as fire whirls, which if severe can be classified as fire tornadoes. These make conditions very dangerous for firefighters and first responders.
“Fire whirls range in size from less than 1 m in diameter and velocities less than 10 m/s up to possibly 3 km in diameter and winds greater than 50 m/s,” the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory explained. “They have been observed in wildland, urban, and oil spill fires and volcanic eruptions. Dynamically, they are closely related to other swirling atmospheric phenomena such as dust devils, water spouts, and tornadoes.”
According to the Library of Congress’ “Everyday Mysteries” series, “true fire tornadoes are rare and are always associated with extreme fire behavior.”
Large fire whirls can cause significant damage and be deadly. For example, the 1923 fire whirl in Tokyo that killed 38,000 people in under 15 minutes. That whirl was caused by an earthquake, and others have been caused by bombings – including the World War II era bombings of Hamburg, Dresden and Hiroshima.
“In some locations, firefighters on the north side of the fire observed fire whirls also known as whirlwinds,” said the Mojave National Preserve Incident Information System of the York Fire. “While these can be fascinating to observe they are a very dangerous natural phenomena that can occur during wildfires. A fire whirl is a vortex of flames and smoke that forms when intense heat and turbulent winds combine, creating a spinning column of fire.”
By Wednesday, the York Fire was around 30% contained but conditions were still dangerous.
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