What is "fire whirl"

alt. a whirling column of fire found in large fiery areas such as wildfires n. a whirling column of fire found in large fiery areas such as wildfires

A fire whirl – also colloquially known as a fire devil, fire tornado, firenado, or fire twister, or in Japan dragon twist – is a whirlwind induced by a fire and often made up of flame or ash. Fire whirls may occur when intense rising heat and turbulent wind conditions combine to form whirling eddies of air. These eddies can contract into a tornado-like structure that sucks in burning debris and combustible gases. it.

Fire whirls are sometimes colloquially called fire tornadoes, but are not literally tornadoes, in that their vorticity derives from surface winds and heat-induced lifting, rather than a tornadic mesocyclone aloft.

The literal fire tornado is a rare phenomenon, much more powerful and destructive than the ordinary fire whirl, in which the a wildfire generates a pyrocumulonimbus cloud that then generates a tornado. when this tornado forms in or enters the fire zone, it fans flames enormously, draws flame and burning debris into itself, and scatters burning debris over a wide area.

A fire tornado is generated by the fire's own effect on local airflow, as with any fire whirl, but indirectly and by a different route.