A unique “firenado” was caused by a wildfire that was tearing through the eastern Utah wilderness over the weekend. It was a terrible combination of wind and flames that caused significant damage to one house and other outbuildings.
On Saturday, the column of flames and hot gases started spinning, producing the strange appearance of a firenado, after the Deer Creek Fire had already scorched several thousand acres just north of La Sal.
“One of our firefighters captured this unusual phenomenon of a fire vortex tearing through pinyon-juniper woodland on the Deer Creek Fire, just outside of La Sal,” Utah Bureau of Land Management officials said.
The neighborhood that was engulfed in the flames was severely damaged by the firenado. According to the National Weather Service, the twister’s interior wind speed reached 122 mph, which is high enough to earn an EF-2 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
Even worse, this firenado stood almost motionless for 12 minutes, swirling its flame-infused rage, as contrast to normal tornadoes that might just blast a neighborhood for a few seconds as the storm passes through.
“Dwellings and outbuildings in the area sustained a mix of fire and wind damage,” Grand Junction, Colorado, NWS meteorologists who later conducted a damage survey reported. “Many of the affected structures burned after the tornado occurred, but wind damage sustained by the remaining structures resulted in the tornado being given an EF-2 rating.”
Fortunately, no one was hurt because people had already left due to the impending wildfire, according to NWS authorities.
“Fire whirls” or “firenados” are defined by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group as spinning columns of hot air and gasses coming up from a fire. As can be seen in the video’s fire vortex, smoke, debris, and even flames are carried up by rising air and gasses.
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According to the NWCG, the vortices can range in size from less than one foot to more than 500 feet. As demonstrated on Saturday, fire whirls on the larger side can be just as powerful as tornadoes.
The Carr Fire in Redding, California, in 2018 was one of the biggest and most devastating fire whirls, according to the National Weather Service. With wind speeds of roughly 143 mph, it was comparable to an EF-3 tornado.
In Utah, tornadoes of any kind—whether caused by thunderstorms or wildfires—rarely occur.
Since the adoption of the Enhanced Fujita scale in 2007, the firenado was Utah’s second tornado to receive an EF-2 rating. Only nine other tornadoes since 1950 had received at least an F2 rating on the original Fujita Scale before that.
The Deer Creek Fire, which as of Thursday morning’s report had burned over 15,600 acres, is still being fought by firefighters. About 7% of the fire has been contained. Over 60,000 acres have been burned by eight large wildfires in Utah so far this summer.