A wildfire in northern Colorado produced a firenado earlier this week, sending a wiry column of orange and yellow flames shooting into the sky.
The fire department in Beaver Creek, Colorado, captured the rare and fleeting “fire whirl” on Sunday and posted the video to its Facebook page.
Firenados are formed when hot, dry air rises quickly from the ground and shapes itself into vertical columns, which swirl into a vortex and pick up burning debris, ash and hot gasses.
A larger firenado broke out in Southern California in June as a wildfire spread to over 4,000 acres in Santa Barbara County.
The Beaver Creek Fire was first detected on June 19 near the Colorado-Wyoming border. The blaze is being fueled by trees felled by beetle infestation, according to fire officials.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that over 1.5 million acres of forest in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming are affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which is killing pine and spruce trees at unprecedented rates.
The dead trees not only harm watersheds, wildlife habitats and future timber production, but also provide ample kindling for potentially catastrophic wildfires.
So far, the Beaver Creek Fire has burned nearly 36,500 acres and is only 44 percent contained. It is not expected to be under control until October.
