{"id":30362,"date":"2026-08-06T23:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30362"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:06:37","slug":"rare-firenado-forms-during-pacific-northwest-blaze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=30362","title":{"rendered":"Rare &#8216;firenado&#8217; forms during Pacific Northwest blaze"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2F136648697.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019s a real disco inferno.<\/p>\n<p>A rare \u201cfirenado\u201d was filmed whirling over Southeast Oregon amid the historic wildfires ravaging the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s being shown in the video is what we term in fire weather meteorology as a fire whirl,\u201d exclaimed Jon Bonk, a fire weather meteorologist with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgw.com\/article\/weather\/severe-weather\/eastern-oregon-viral-video-shows-fire-whirl-not-tornado\/283-cf9e7f78-136d-46f3-a5e9-3a54a2055b72\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KGW8 reported.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A rare fire whirl, often called a \u201cfirenado,\u201d spins across an open field in Harney County over the weekend.  <span class=\"credit\">Philip Sitz via Storyful<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Firefighters deploy water after flames passed raged through a forested area near Prineville, Oregon on Wednesday, August 5. <span class=\"credit\">ZUMAPRESS.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the fiery footage, captured by a resident of Burns in Harney County, a towering column of fire and smoke rotates over an open field as a blaze rages below.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Coincidentally, \u201cfirenado\u201d is a bit of a misnomer as these pyrotechnic twisters are not bona fide tornadoes. Rather, these smoldering vortices are actually created from the rising air that\u2019s generated by the heat of a wildfire, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/wildfires\/2026\/08\/what-is-a-firenado-rare-fire-whirl-captured-on-video-in-eastern-oregon.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon Live.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As this hot air ascends, it begins to spin and suck flames, burning debris and smoke into the funnel, \u201csimilar to how a dust devil forms,\u201d explained Bonk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>An aerial view, taken from inside a commercial aircraft, shows the smoke pall of the active Grasshopper fire backdropped by Mount Hood in Oregon on Wednesday, August 5, 2026.  <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Fire whirls can spread embers ahead of the fire line, sparking more blazes. <span class=\"credit\">Philip Sitz via Storyful<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He believes this unusually large fire whirl formed due to intense heat.<\/p>\n<p>Large sparknatos \u2014 they can grow to hundreds of feet tall \u2014 are dangerous as they start new infernos well beyond the fire line, posing a threat to residents and firefighters alike.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;Firenado&quot; spotted in southeast Oregon\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/03GdpaLD230?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>Last summer, a wildfire in eastern Utah sparked <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/17\/us-news\/utah-firenado-with-122-mph-winds-leaves-behind-significant-damage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a \u201cfirenado\u201d with 122-mph winds that<\/a> left one home and several other outbuildings severely damaged.<\/p>\n<p>This flaming death dervish is the fallout from nearly 50 fires burning across Oregon and Washington, with the largest five fires in the Beaver State accounting for roughly 1.2 million acres burned so far, <a href=\"https:\/\/katu.com\/news\/wildfire-season\/49-large-fires-burn-in-oregon-and-washington-as-smoke-worsens-air-quality-grasshopper-big-grass-rowe-creek-complex-pacific-northwest-timberline-lodge-government-camp-meadows-mount-hood-portland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the Northwest <\/a>Interagency Coordination Center.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze, which was ignited by a lightning strike on July 23, has since roared into Idaho as well.<\/p>\n<p>The flames have also shrouded the sky in smoke, triggering unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality in the Pacific Northwest this week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/08\/06\/weather\/spokane-wildfires-washington-northwest-forecast-climate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN reported.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the air will clear somewhat on Thursday night as winds blow the smoke East.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a real disco inferno. A rare \u201cfirenado\u201d was filmed whirling over Southeast Oregon amid the historic wildfires ravaging the Pacific Northwest. \u201cWhat\u2019s being shown in the video is what we term in fire weather meteorology as a fire whirl,\u201d exclaimed Jon Bonk, a fire weather meteorologist with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, KGW8 reported&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/136648697.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}