The rare weather phenomenon occurred while crews were battling the Deer Creek Fire, which was burning in San Juan County, on Saturday. Video of the event, taken by firefighters assigned to attack the fire, shows flames and smoke swirling like a large tornado.
These events — sometimes referred to as fire whirls, pyrogenetic tornadoes or firenados — are a "spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris and flame," according to the U.S. Forest Service. They're often between 1 and 500 feet in diameter, but they can also be larger and stronger than that.
They're created when "highly unstable, superheated, dry air near the ground breaks through the boundary layer and shoots upward in a swirling motion," per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It wasn't immediately clear how large Saturday's vortex was, but it did damage a BLM fire engine enough that it had to be pulled from firefighting operations for repairs, said Anna Rehkopf, a spokeswoman for the federal agency. She added that crews likely won't know the extent of the damage until a few more days.
The Deer Creek Fire, which has now burned a little over 10,000 acres since it began on Thursday, remains 0% contained, Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team No. 4 reported on Monday. About 300 personnel are assigned to fight the fire. All residents north of state Route 46 between Upper 2 Mile Road and the Utah-Colorado state line remain under evacuation.
Fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the fire, which has destroyed at least nine structures, including four homes in the area.
(More here)
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