Fire tornadoes occur when intense wind combines with conditions in the atmosphere to produce clouds of smoke that reach 20,000 to 40,000 feet, Swain said. These clouds form vortices of flaming hot ...

Scientists are examining footage of a flaming vortex spotted amid the Palisades ... Authorities are trying to determine whether it is a rare fire tornado or a 'fire whirl'. The Palisades Fire ...

The blaze looks similar to a twister. But Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, told USA TODAY that it instead appears to be an example of a fire whirl, which is “more akin to a dust devil than a ...