A Fire Tornado ?

A small fire tornado

 With any luck at all, you and I should never see such a thing, but I did want all of you to be aware of such a thing. A Fire Tornado is an unusual natural phenomenon which can occur when a fire encounters just the right conditions which allow it to twist and turn sufficiently to follow the pattern of a dust devil or a tornado, and to develop a vortex. Because these are thought to most often occur internally during forest fires, human beings usually don't see them, as they are felt to be internally shrouded by smoke and fires which surround such a phenomenon. These are also a relatively short lived proposition also. Another name for this natural occurrence is a Fire Whirl. These were noted to have occurred in Japan in 1923, following an earthquake, and in 1926 in San Luis Obispo in California when a lightning strike igniting an industrial facility. There was also one in Hawaii in 2010. These are only rarely photographed, I think because most of us with sense, are busy running from the heat and danger of such an area. I think most of us are content to simply watch a video, rather than to see this in person ! Chris Tangey, a film maker who was working in the Australian Outback on another project entirely, obtained this incredible video on September the 11th, 2012

Please click on the underlined portions below to see the video as provided by Chris Tangey.

Outback fire tornadoes-Australia from chris tangey on Vimeo.
Used with the consent and permission of Chris Tangey Alice Springs Film Company, Australia

         Thanks Chris !