While firefighters continued to battle the Los Angeles wildfires, dozens of people witnessed yet another weather phenomenon: a fire tornado.
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A Fox 11 Los Angeles video shows that the fire tornado occurred on Friday, Jan. 10, just as the Palisades Wildfire moved towards Mandeville Canyon near Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood.
KCAL Meteorologist Dani Ruberti stated that fire tornados, which are referred to as “firenado” or “fire devils,” are considered rare. However, in extreme instances, like the Los Angeles wildfires, fire tornadoes can “create” their own “weather system.”
“The heat is so incredibly intense that the air starts to rise,” she explained. ” And it starts to pull in the surrounding air … Kind of creating that spinning vortex. The particles in there, they’re moving faster than on the outside, and that’s what causes the air to spin faster and give that look of a tornado.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also stated that when smoke from the wildfire rises and condenses upon reaching the upper atmosphere, the water combines with moisture already in the atmosphere, and additional water evaporates from plants burned by the blaze. This then creates a cloud known as pyrocumulus, otherwise called “fire cloud.”
Ruberti further explained fire tornadoes could sometimes reach hundreds of feet in the air. However, they last for a few minutes at a time.
The Palisades Wildfire, along with the Eaton and Hurst Wildfires, erupted last Tuesday, Jan. 7, causing significant damage. The death toll is now up to 24.
The Los Angeles wildfires impacted areas such as the Hollywood Hills, Pacific Palisades, West Hills, Altadena, Pasadena, Sylmar, and Acton, as well as parts of Ventura County.
More Details About What Caued the Palisades Wildfire Begin to Surface
As firefighters continue to take on the Palisades Wildfire, more details about what started the blaze are beginning to surface.
The Washinton Post reported that approximately 30 minutes after the fire started last Tuesday, firefighters pointed out that it was coming from a “familiar sliver” of mountain ridge.
“The foot of the fire started real close to where the last fire was on New Year’s Eve,” a Los Angeles County firefighter stated on a radio, per a Washington Post review of archived radio transmissions. “It looks like it’s going to make a good run.”
The media outlet reported that photos, videos, satellite imagery, radio communication, and witness interviews reveal that the Palisades Wildfire started in an area where firefighters were using helicopters to extinguish another blaze days earlier.
Meanwhile, state and federal agents are investigating the origin of the wildfire. They interviewed nearby residents and examined the evidence. They also observed a burn scar from a New Year’s Eve fire.
However, an official ruling on what sparked the fire has not been officially ruled.