TERRIFYING footage from the LA hills shows fire tornadoes raging across the Pacific Palisades and igniting new fires as firefighters brace for more devastation.
Several regions of California have been decimated by the raging infernos that have claimed the lives of 24 people and seen over 100,000 people flee their homes.
Huge fire tornados have been spotted in the Palisades fires in LA[/caption]
The terrifying phenomenon is caused by extreme temperatures, high winds and air pressure changes[/caption]
Smoke and flames are whipped up creating huge funnels that can go hundreds of meters into the air[/caption]
The Palisades Fire which has torn through 23,713 acres of land and killed eight people in less than a week is one of the most destructive blazes in Californian history.
Now, as fears rise for further destruction with severe winds forecast for the days ahead, shocking footage shows how high winds and extreme temperatures create terrifying firenados.
One clip taken by a news chopper above the San Fernando Valley shows raging fires being whipped up by the wind into tornado-like funnels.
While the fires on the ground continue to burn, the flames picked up by the wind elongate high into the sky and whip around threatening to set alight anything that was previously out of reach.
This phenomenon also known as fire devils is caused when fires and raging so intensely that they can create their own weather system thanks to extreme heat and changing air pressures.
KCAL News Meteorologist Dani Ruberti explained: “The heat is so incredibly intense that the air starts to rise and it starts to pull in the surrounding air … kind of creating that spinning vortex.
“The particles in there, they’re moving faster than on the outside, and that’s what causes the air to spin faster and give that look of a tornado.”
Ruberti noted how these firenados can go hundreds of feet into the air but that this only lasts for a few minutes at a time.
But with just 13 per cent of the Palisades blaze contained after six days, the Pasadena fire chief has warned that more fires could continue to take off as the region reaches a “fork in the road.”
The future of what happens regarding these devastating fires all sits on the next 48 hours.
Chad Augustin told the BBC: “Once we get past Wednesday night I’m going to be saying, ‘wooh, we made it and this fire is just about under control’ and then we’re going to spent the next couple of weeks just mopping up hotspots and embers – or this fire’s going to take off on Tuesday or Wednesday with these increased wind conditions.”
It’s “all hands on deck” as 5,000 firefighters working on the Palisades blaze alone hope to “keep gaining containment on the fire.”
But, the weather is not on their side with the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warning of a “particularly dangerous situation” as it warns people to brace for “explosive fire growth.”
The NWS issued a red flag warning for three areas across Ventura and West Los Angeles County which is the same severity as the hurricane-force gusts that struck the region last week.
Santa Ana winds, coming in from the northeast, are predicted to increase in severity to highs of 70mph on Tuesday.
As a result of this forecast which the agency called “critical fire weather,” it noted that the severe winds could cause a new set of fires to start, threatening new neighborhoods.
Cal Fire’s battalion chief Brent Pascua has revealed how firefighters are working relentlessly to not only put out the raging flames but to extinguish the embers which are a significant threat during high winds.
He told the BBC how the choppers releasing fire retardant and water over the area are dousing places even without smoke or flames to stop the embers from being picked up and carried off to start new fires.
Pascua told how his team have to “churn up the dirt so that we can expose the hot embers and ash that lay just beneath the surface before the winds get here and blow them over our fire line.”
With these new fears of fresh fires, those who have been evacuated from their homes have been barred by officials from returning before Thursday at the earliest.
It comes as a report claims that the Palisades blaze could have been started by fireworks from New Year’s Eve.
The Washington Post has reported that scorch marks left by an earlier fire believed to have been started by fireworks could have been rekindled by strong winds.
Concerns are high for further fires as local weather services predict more severe winds[/caption]
The Palisades fire is the worst blaze in Californian history with thousands of firefighters working to extinguish it[/caption]
