'Firenados' are wreaking havoc across Australia
Source: CNN
Helena DeMoura, CNN
Updated 5:13 PM ET, Thu January 2, 2020
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(CNN) -- Cyclonic fire-tornadoes, also known as "firenados," are tearing across parts of southern Australia, adding to the apocalyptic scenes playing out amid one of that nation's worst fire seasons on record. The firenados, triggered by explosive pyrocumulonimbus clouds reaching up to 16 kilometers (10 miles) high, are making conditions even more dangerous and unpredictable than usual. One firefighter died when his truck was overturned in a fire tornado earlier this week.
Pyrocumulonimbus clouds form when the intense heat from a blaze forces air to rise rapidly as smoke billows in a massive, anvil-shaped tower.
These fierce clouds -- called flammagenitus -- produce erratic dynamics and bring quick, unpredictable changes, making the work of firefighters ever more dangerous, Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Neil Bennett told Australia's ABC.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/02/world/australia-victoria-firenado/index.html
If you listen to the report, Firenados are very rare, and move very quickly and are rarely photographed. The situation in Australia is horrific. The fire has been going on for many days because of a drought there. No one knows when the fire will end.
Here is a link to see where the fires are currently burning in Australia:
http://google.org/crisismap/australia
Here is another story with more information and another map from CBS News:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-fires-fire-map-5-questions-answered-how-many-hectares-have-burnt-where-are-the-fires-burning/
Very significant: "More than a quarter of the country is on fire" "....and killed at least 17 people including three firefighters"
From the CBS story above:
The flames have forced thousands to flee in south eastern Australia and killed at least 17 people, including three firefighters. At least eight people have died this week in the New South Wales region and the neighboring state of Victoria, The Associated Press reported.
"More than a quarter of the country is on fire. This state of emergency is rocking Australia to its core," said Natasha Exelby, a reporter for Network 10, on "CBS This Morning
= new reply since forum marked as read
One fire crew was caught in a flashover. 99.99% of people who have seen those are dead, but quick use of space blankets and some real luck in getting the rig turned around got them all out.
Tomorrow's forecast there might mean a lot of the fires in the east have a chance of merging and burning right down to the shore.
Air here in the SW US can get pretty bad in our fire season, but I've never seen conditions like those.
And a few statistics, Australian qualified by "so far."
'Like a blowtorch': Powerful winds fueled tornadoes of flame in Tubbs Fire (Santa Rosa)
The Tubbs Fire that raged through Santa Rosa last week unleashed a series of fiery tornadoes powerful enough to flip cars, yank trees out of the ground and rip homes apart, fire scientists said Wednesday.
Gusts of up to 73 mph were recorded at the weather stations after the fires broke out Oct. 8, but the extraordinary damage documented during postmortem evaluations indicated that much more powerful forces were at play.
“We had trees ripped out of the ground, cars turned over, garage doors ripped off their hinges and wrapped around trees in the front yards,” said Scott Upton, the northern region chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and an expert on fire behavior. “It was no different than a hurricane, really, but instead of rain we had a fire event. I’ve been in this business 30 years and it’s the worst I’ve seen.”
Upton said fire whirls, also known as fire tornadoes, probably happened in all the North Bay fires, but the most destructive evidence was found in Santa Rosa neighborhoods flattened by the Tubbs Fire, which has killed at least 22 people and burned 36,432 acres. Recovery teams are still searching for remains in the rubble.
<more>
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Tubbs-Fire-unleashed-fiery-tornadoes-that-12289228.php#photo-14375204
