Video: Fire tornado filmed in Australian outback

Fire tornadoes, sometimes known as ‘fire devils’ occur a fire forms a whirl, or column of hot air rising from the earth. These can reach up to 50 metres.

The Australian video was captured by Aussie filmmaker Chris Tangey who was in Alice Springs on the lookout for movie locations.

Tangey told of his shock when he spotted the 30-metre high column of fire swirling into the air just 300-metres away from him.

“I turned around and saw a 30-metre fire tornado. I was about 300-metres away and there was no wind but the tornado sounded like a fighter jet. My jaw just dropped,” Tangey said, as reported by The Sun.

Fire tornadoes are rare but can be deadly. During the 1923 Great Kantu earthquake in Japan, a giant firestorm produced a fire whirl which swept through the city, killing 38,000 Tokyo residents in fifteen minutes.