Did the Park Fire create a fire tornado? ‘Strong evidence’ California blaze did, expert says

Smoke billowed in what appeared to be a fire tornado Thursday evening in the Park Fire, according to footage from UC San Diego’s AlertCalifornia live camera feed.

Cal Fire and the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office could not confirm that there was a fire tornado or “firenado” — a rare atmospheric event in which the flame and ash from a fire form a spinning column in the same manner as a tornado.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, said that he was unsure if a fire tornado could be “100% confirmed” from the Thursday footage, but that the fast-rotating smoke plume seen on footage could have been a “potential precursor” to a fire tornado.

“Meteorological speaking, there is very strong evidence that there was one based on radar imagery,” Swain said.

Swain also said that the formation of a fire tornado will be possible again Friday afternoon, due to a host of factors including meteorological conditions, unstable air and winds that have changed in direction.

The Park Fire, which began Wednesday evening, has spread to more than 160,000 acres in Butte and Tehama counties as of Friday morning, moving at a rate of 5,000 acres per hour. Containment declined from 3% to zero, according to Cal Fire.

More than 4,000 residents remain under evacuation orders, and firefighters said Friday that the fire could spread to Shasta and Lassen counties.

Fire tornadoes have previously been documented in Northern California during the Tennant Fire in 2021 and the Carr Fire in 2018.