On July 18, the Bootleg Fire generated what appeared to be a flaming tornado, sweeping skyward from the trees and into the towering thunderheads above.
According to Bruno Rodriguez, an incident meteorologist assigned to the Bootleg, the phenomenon occurred on the southeast side of the blaze on a day of extreme fire behavior. Rodriguez said the smoke output by the fire that day generated pyrocumulus or pyrocumulonimbus clouds that rose higher than 30,000 feet into the stratosphere — roughly the altitude where most commercial airplanes fly.
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Some live trees were sheared off by the wind, this one about 6.5 feet from the ground.
U.S. Forest Servce
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