Fire whirl

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A fire whirl could generally be one of two phenomena:

1. A phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions (depending on air temperature and currents), acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like effect. A fire whirl can make naturally-occurring fires more dangerous. Fire whirls are basically 'fire tornadoes'. They are spawned from wildfires. They come to be what they are when a warm updraft from the wildfire is present. This is the most important condition for fire whirls to prevail. They are usually 10-50 meters tall, a few meters wide, and last only a few minutes. However, there are some exceptions to this broad perspective of a fire whirl's strength, some of which can be several hundred feet tall and have winds up to 100 mph. These can also aid the 'spotting' ability of wildfires, thus leading to more damage.
2. A phenomenon in which an existing strong tornado (associated with a thunderstorm) crosses over a wildfire or causes a wildfire, thus sucking up the fires and keeping them circulated.

[edit] References

• Fire Whirl Simulations