Fire tornadoes becoming routine due to climate change, analysts say

In short:

Fire analysts say once-theoretical fire behaviour is now becoming routine, including fire tornadoes.

John King captured a 100-metre-tall fire column only 50 metres from his back door during the Grampians bushfire in December.

Unusual fire behaviour was also seen in the Los Angeles fires in January.

John King was ready for the 2024 bushfire season.

Living on the fringes of western Victoria's Gariwerd/Grampians National Park, the CFA volunteer knew the importance of having a fire plan in place, as well as hoses and water tanks.

But Mr King was not prepared for a fire column spearing 100 metres in the air, only 50m from his back door.

"We had these willy willies [whirlwinds] going four or five times the height of some of the trees," he said.

Mr King began filming the awesome sight as it spiralled through the hot air, picking up speed, the heat of the blaze gathering a swirling column before dissolving into smoke.

He described it as "magnificent, in a strange way".

"It wasn't coming towards us, so to be honest, at the time I just felt a bit awe-inspired by it," Mr King said.

"It was an incredible sight."

John King captured the flame tornado only 50 metres from his back door. (ABC Ballarat: Laura Mayers)

The unusual natural phenomenon was captured during the height of bushfires sparked by dry lightning in December 2024 that raged for months and burnt through more than 136,000 hectares of bushland.
Once a myth, now reality

Fire analysts say unusual fire behaviours like tornadoes were once considered a myth, but may start to become more commonplace.

Mr King says he was lucky he didn't lose any structures after the fast-moving bushfire went through his property. (Supplied: John King)

University of Tasmania professor of pyrogeography and fire science David Bowman said fire tornadoes were the flame equivalent of a water spout or dust devil.

"There are examples ... where you can actually see fire trucks being thrown around in these intense systems," Professor Bowman said.

"In really humungous fires you can get true tornadoes where they even have an eye and extraordinarily powerful winds."

The bushfire claimed parts of Mr King's fenceline on the boundaries of his property. (Supplied: John King)

A fire tornado, sometimes called a fire whirl, is created during strong wildfires energised by powerful winds, dry fuel and intense heat.

In the Los Angeles fire in January, which claimed the lives of 30 people and destroyed more than 150 square kilometres of homes and bushland, the "perfect" conditions led to the unusual fire behaviour.

The fires tore through the Grampians National Park and Mount William and Redman Bluff after being sparked by dry lightning. (Supplied: John King)

Professor Bowman said higher temperatures and climate change were fuelling droughts that were in turn leading to incredibly fast-moving fires that released large amounts of energy.

"We're seeing now worldwide things that were sort of almost theoretical or all very unlikely to happen are now becoming more routine," he said.

Fire tornadoes were seen along the fire front at Bullsbrook in Perth's north in 2020. (ABC News)

"Not only are they happening more often, they're happening in places you would never expect them to happen, like the Arctic Circle.

"They're also happening in the middle of the night.

"That is telling us that, because of this atmospheric acidity, [landscapes are] much drier, and so when you have dry landscapes they are poised to express extremely volatile behaviour."

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