A finger of red swirling flames materialized amid a scorched section of Butte County as the Camp Fire cut a harrowing path across Northern California on Thursday.
KGO reporter Laura Anthony captured video of the fire tornado on a roadway near Paradise, a small California town that has been consumed by the late season wildfire. The fiery vortex appears to whirl dozens of feet into the sky, above the skeletal trees lining the thoroughfare.
— Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 9, 2018
Fire tornados, sometimes called "firenadoes" or fire whirls, are rare natural phenomena, and it's even rarer to capture them on camera.
They form when cool air collides with rising heat, often in conjunction with extremely high winds.
Since the Camp Fire started at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, it has grown to nearly 110 square miles — more than double the size of San Francisco. More than 52,000 people in Northern California have been ordered to evacuate.
The fire was at 5 percent containment as of Friday morning, Cal Fire said.
Sheriff's officials in Northern California said at least five people were found dead in vehicles on a main thoroughfare heading out of Paradise. The roadway was consumed by flames. Authorities said the victims could not immediately be identified because of the burns they suffered.
With fires burning in both Northern and Southern California, the director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services put the number of people forced from their homes at 157,000.
The massive blaze that hit Paradise spread north Friday, prompting officials to order the evacuation of Stirling City and Inskip, two communities north of Paradise along the Sierra Nevada foothills.
The wind-driven flames also spread to the west and reached the edge of Chico, a city of 90,000 people. Firefighters were able to stop the fire at the edge of the city, where evacuation orders remained in place Friday, Cal Fire Cpt. Bill Murphy said.
The winds calmed down in the valley, but they were still shifting and erratic, with speeds of up to 45 mph (72 kph) along ridge tops, he said.
For The San Francisco Chronicle's full wildfire coverage, click here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at [email protected].
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