Video shows monster 265km/h fire tornado, the size of three football fields, that killed California firefighter
‘It was something out of this world … It was incompatible with life, and he happened to drive into it’
In the history of California wildfires there has never been anything like it: a churning tornado of fire, the size of three football fields.
An official report describes in chilling detail the intensity of the rare phenomenon and how quickly it took the life of Redding firefighter Jeremy Stoke, who was enveloped in seconds as he tried to evacuate residents on July 26.
Videos released with the report late Wednesday show the massive funnel of smoke and flames in a populated area on the edge of Redding, about 400km north of San Francisco.
The smoke-and-fire tornado was about 300 metres wide at its base and reached 12km into the sky; it reached speeds of up to 265km/h, with temperatures that likely exceeded 1,480 degrees Celsius, said the report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The tornado exploded in the middle of what was already a gigantic, devastating wildfire that started on July 23 with a spark from a vehicle driving on a flat tire. Stoke is one of eight people killed since the blaze started and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes. It was 71 per cent contained as of Thursday.