Incredibly rare "firenado" spotted while crews battle Canadian wildfire
A rare and terrifying phenomenon was captured on camera in BC last week as crews battled a raging wildfire.
The BC Wildfire Service shared a video on Twitter of what has been dubbed a “fire tornado” or “firenado.”
“Fire whirls are an incredibly rare phenomenon,” explained BC Wildfire in a thread. “These unique conditions and extreme fire behaviour are not experienced on the majority of fires in BC.”
Last week, a cold front passed through the province following several days of hot, dry weather. pic.twitter.com/fHbPsizjbr
ā BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) August 22, 2023
The fire whirl occurred over Gun Lake in the West-Central Interior of BC overnight from August 17 to 18.
The BC Wildfire Service says a mixture of conditions contributed to this horrifying sight.
“Last week, a cold front passed through the province following several days of hot, dry weather,” the thread reads.
Strong winds came from the southwest, causing the fire to grow and intensify. To add to that, relative humidity was at 14% at 4 am, a value that the Wildfire Service says is “incredibly rare to see overnight.”
There was also a reduced dew point (a measure of moisture in the air) of -11Ā°C on August 18.
This significant drop contributed to extreme fire intensity during the overnight period.
“As shown in the video, the combination of high fire intensity, strong winds and air mass instability resulted in the formation of a fire whirl (otherwise known as a fire tornado) over Gun Lake,” reads the thread.
“Fire whirls are vertically oriented, intensely rotating columns of gas and flame.”
Western Canada has been battling harsh wildfire conditions for the past few weeks.
On Tuesday, BC lifted the wildfire travel ban for all communities except West Kelowna.
So far, no deaths have been reported, but an estimated 90 homes have been lost to wildfire in the Kelowna area.
Last week, all of Yellowknife and surrounding areas were evacuated due to wildfires in the Northwest Territories.
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