#Rare ‘firenado’ spotted in California amid extreme heat, strong winds

Enlarge Image

California firefighters drop water to fight a fire near Lakes Hughes.
AP

A rare “firenado” tore through California near the Nevada border amid extreme heat and fierce winds in the region, according to a report.

The extreme weather phenomenon was spotted Saturday afternoon near the Loyalton Fire, which began in the Tahoe National Forest, NBC News reported.

Firenadoes are sparked when a gust when hot air blows through the fire at a certain angle, producing plumes that appear similar to a tornado, Fox News reported.

On Saturday, the National Weather Service office in Reno warned of blazes that exhibited “extremely dangerous fire behavior,” with the potential for rotating columns and fire whirls.

“The big concern is that it’s extremely erratic fire behavior,” John Mittelstadt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the outlet.

“For any of the firefighters who are working on one flank of the fire, all of a sudden, there is no way to predict what the winds are going to do or how strong they are going to be.”

The fire near Loyalton that started Saturday has burned more than 3,000 acres — with only 5% contained by the same evening, officials said.