The wildfire tearing through northern California is so hot it’s formed its own weather system, with strong winds creating a phenomenon known as ‘firenados’.
Stunning images show smoke from the Carr Fire standing up in a giant column above Shasta County as it rages on for the sixth day in a row, leaving two firefighters dead and destroying 500 homes, as officials warned another 5,000 properties are still threatened.
On top of the blaze itself, people in the area now have to look out for firenados as well, which occur when high temperatures drive the air upward, creating gusts of wind in three directions and advancing the fire’s spread.
The firenado winds are so strong they can flip cars ‘like toys, according to fire service spokesman Scott McLean.
A wildfire tearing through Shasta County in northern California is so hot it’s created a phenomenon called ‘firenados’
A resident of Redding, California, where the blaze is currently passing through, captured a firenado on video Thursday
The hot air surrounding the fire creates multi-directional wind patterns, driving the smoke tower upward (picture on Friday)
Nearly 3,500 firefighters are working to contain the blaze in northern California as it rages on for the sixth day in a row
The fire began on Monday with a mechanical failure of a vehicle and grew completely out of control on Thursday, tearing through two small communities and reaching the city of Redding.
Tens of thousands of people fled the city in fear of their lives from the blaze.
In the small northern California community of Keswick, only a handful of homes remain.
On Saturday morning, some 3,400 firefighters on the ground and in helicopters continued to battle the 48,300-acre fire as it ripped through the Redding, while blazes continued to rage elsewhere in the state.
At the height of the blaze on Thursday a firenado sent large, fiery chunks of debris into the air, landing on buildings, homes and trees.
‘The fire created its own wind. It looks an awful lot like a tornado,’ UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain told the Sacremento Bee.
‘These fire-induced winds were very strong and unpredictable and drove this fire from dry brush and trees into urban areas.’
Redding resident Skip Murphy captured a video of Thursday’s firenado.
‘In case you were wondering what a fire tornado looks like,’ he wrote on Facebook. ‘No audio, but it sounds like a freight train, punctuated with explosions. Never seen anything like it.
‘At the end of this was when I suddenly realized “Run, fool!” We are fine with friends. Not sure about the house. Prayers upon prayers for our community, and our very brave first responders and firefighters.’
The flames moved so fast that firefighters working in oven-like temperatures and bone-dry conditions had to drop efforts to battle the blaze at one point to help people escape. Pictured: The Carr Fire near Redding on Friday
In the small northern California community of Keswick, only a handful of homes were left standing after the fire came through
An eagle sits atop a damaged flag pole is seen against the setting sun during the Carr Fire in Redding, California, on Friday
The fire, which was just three percent contained after igniting six days ago, has been fed by high temperatures and low humidity, which were expected for at least the next week, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott.
‘This fire is a long way from done,’ he said.
The flames so thoroughly ate up homes that it’s difficult to tell how many once stood above the pile of ash and smoking rubble that remains, but officials said it was at least 500 structures.
About 37,000 people remained under evacuation orders Friday as nearly 5,000 homes in the area were being threatened by the 75-square-mile (194-square-kilometer) blaze, which is just five percent contained.
Thousands of people scrambled to escape before the walls of flames descended from forested hills onto their neighborhoods Thursday.
The flames so thoroughly ate up homes in Keswick that it’s difficult to tell how many once stood above the pile of ash and smoking rubble that remains
A partially burned boat floats on Whiskeytown Lake during the Carr fire near Whiskeytown, California, on Friday
In the communities scorched by the blaze, such as Lake Keswick Estates in Redding (pictured), the Friday air was thick with the smell of smoke and chemicals, as the so-called Carr Fire continues to move through Shasta County like a freight train
Two vehicles that endured the Carr Fire, one with minor cosmetic damage and one destroyed, rest among leveled homes in the Lake Keswick Estates area of Redding on Friday evening
Residents who gathered their belongings in haste described a chaotic and congested getaway as the embers blew up to a mile ahead of flames and the fire leaped across the wide Sacramento River and torched subdivisions in Redding.
Two firefighters have been killed in the blaze, Redding fire inspector Jeremy Stoke and a bulldozer operator whose name wasn’t immediately released. He was the second bulldozer operator killed in a California blaze in less than two weeks.
Elsewhere in the state, large fires continued to burn outside Yosemite National Park and in the San Jacinto Mountains east of Los Angeles near Palm Springs.
Yosemite National Park officials said Friday that the park won’t reopen to everyone until the afternoon of August 3.
The fire began on Monday with a mechanical failure of a vehicle. It grew completely out of control on Thursday, tearing through two small communities and reaching the city of Redding, which is pictured on Friday
There are more fires elsewhere in the state. This photo shows a blaze over Apple Canyon caused by the Cranston Fire near Idyllwild, San Bernardino, on Friday
Firefighters gather on a roadside near the Cranston Fire near Idyllwild in San Bernardino County on Friday. The fire has been made worse by strong winds