Incredibly rare ‘fire tornado’ swirls as blaze rages in British Columbia

A “fire tornado” swirled as a wildfire raged in British Columbia, Canada, last Thursday (17 August).

Dramatic footage captured by overnight ground personnel responding to the Downton Lake blaze shows the fire whirl, which formed due to a combination of high fire intensity, strong winds and air mass instability over Gun Lake.

The intense rotating columns of gas and flame are vertically oriented in an incredibly rare phenomenon.

“These unique conditions and extreme fire behaviour are not experienced on the majority of fires in British Columbia,” BC Wildfire Service said.