A fire whirl, sometimes referred to as a ‘firenado’, was spotted at around 10:45 p.m. in the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles on Friday night.
LOS ANGELES – An eerie fire whirl was spotted spinning amid the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles on Friday night.
Sometimes referred to as ‘firenados’, fire whirls are spinning columns of hot air and gases rising up from a fire, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.
When the air and gases rise, they also carry up smoke, debris and even fire, as seen in the vortex of fire in the video.
Fire whirl in Palisades Fire.
(KABC / FOX Weather)
The vortices can be as small as under one foot wide to over 500 feet wide, the NWCG said. Fire whirls on the larger side can be as strong as a small tornado.
Larger fire whirls with wind speeds of up to EF-2 tornadoes have uprooted trees, knocked over vehicles and torn roofs from homes, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
One of the largest recent fire whirls occurred in 2018 during the Carr Fire in Redding, California, the National Weather Service said. It had wind speeds of about 143 mph, equivalent to those found in EF-3 tornadoes.
The most destructive fire whirl on record occurred in Tokyo in 1923, the USFS said. Caused by fires that erupted throughout the city after an earthquake, the fire whirl killed about 38,000 people in under 15 minutes.
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PACIFIC PALISADES, CA – January 08: Homes burn above Pacific Coast Highway near Will Rodgers State Beach during the Palisades Fire on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, CA. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES – JANUARY 09: Fire destroys buildings and vegetation as flames rage across Los Angeles, California, United States on January 09, 2025. (Official Flickr Account of CAL FIRE / Handout/Anadolu)
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LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES – JANUARY 09: Fire destroys buildings and vegetation as flames rage across Los Angeles, California, United States on January 09, 2025. (Official Flickr Account of CAL FIRE / Handout/Anadolu )
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PACIFIC PALISADES, CA – JANUARY 07: Smoke rises from a burning vehicle during a brush fire pushed by gusting Santa Ana winds on January 7, 2025 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. A fire in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles has forced some residents to evacuate amid “life-threatening and destructive” winds. (Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images) (Qian Weizhong/VCG)
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A destructive wind event, possibly the strongest to hit the LA Basin in 14 years, is fueling catastrophic fires across Southern California. (Robert Ray)
FOX Weather Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari noted that fire whirls are more akin to dust devils than tornadoes, as tornadoes are produced by supercell thunderstorms whereas dust devils are produced by light winds in fair weather.
The historic California wildfires of 2025 continue to rage across Los Angeles. The fires have killed at least 11 people, destroyed at least 10,000 homes and business and incinerated more than 29,000 acres of land.