Published on
05/08/2026 - 10:26 GMT+2
Europe's record-breaking hot and dry summer is fuelling major wildfires, with France and Greece among the countries battling large blazes. Scientists say some of these fires are producing an unusual and dangerous phenomenon known as a fire whirl, or fire tornado, in which intense heat and wind combine to create spinning columns of flames and smoke.
According to wildfire researcher James Urban, assistant professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, this extreme fire behaviour has been observed across Europe in recent days.
To better understand the phenomenon, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the US recreated fire whirls under controlled laboratory conditions. Urban says the spinning motion develops when wind interacts with the terrain and the shape of the fire.
