A fire tornado, also known as a 'fire whirl', was captured on video by fire crews responding to the Downton Lake wildfire near Lillooet, Thursday, August 17, 2023.
Image Credit: BC Wildfire Service
August 23, 2023 - 10:01 AM
A combination of weather conditions and fire behaviour caused the formation of a fire tornado over Gun Lake near Lillooet last week.
Also known as 'fire whirls' these tornadoes are vertically oriented, intensely rotating columns of gas and flame. The complex terrain, downslope winds and impact of a passing cold front provided the necessary conditions for this fire whirl on the Downton Lake wildfire, Aug. 17, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
An extremely rare overnight relative humidity value of 14% contributed to extreme fire intensity that night, “reaching intensities that hadn’t been seen even during the day.”
Fire whirls are an incredibly rare phenomenon.
The video was captured by firefighters responding to the Downton Lake wildfire on Aug. 17.
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