Common factors associated with large scale fire whirls

Large scale fire whirls are a rare but dangerous fire behavior event. The most intense whirls contain damaging wind speeds comparable to an F0 or F1 tornado and last a half hour or more. They present a significant hazard to firefighters, yet very little is known about their causes and behavior. The presentation will examine case studies of large whirls on wildland and urban fires, laboratory studies, and discuss whirl physics. Potential causal factors will be identified.