Smoke CB

[Chris Hayes]

Check out this picture of a pyrocumulus that looks supercellular :D It's the top picture in this article.

http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Californias-Lick-Fire-Nears-Containment/45$56348

[Steven Williams]

Looking like the pyrocu had hit that California inversion layer.

[George Kourounis]

Nice!

The wildest pyrocu I've ever seen was in the Yukon last summer. It formed over a HUGE forest fire in the southeast corner of the territory. I was up in a Cessna along with a fire observation crew and the turbulence made me so airsick that I couldn't wait to land.

http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Yukon_2006/Yukon_2006_08.JPG

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca (http://www.stormchaser.ca)

[Gerrit Gulden]

wow, Awesome photo George. Looks exactly like a Cumulinimbus with a well defined anvil. Its amazing what type of phenomena wildfires put out (fire nados, pyrocumulous structure,etc).

Thanks for sharing...

-gerrit

[Joel Wright]

Damn, George! That had to be one hell of a forest fire to induce a cloud like that! Nice photo.

[George Kourounis]

Hey Joel,

Oh yes it was HUGE. Luckily the fire was out in the middle of nowhere and it only threatened a few remote fishing cabins.

More pictures from the surveillance plane can be seen here:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Yukon_2006/Yukon_2006.html

To get an idea of how strong this fire was, look down near the flames and you can see the trees as these tiny little lines with giant flames tower above them. Each one of these tees is a mature pine or spruce about 50 feet tall or so easily.

http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Yukon_2006/Yukon_2006_05.JPG

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca (http://www.stormchaser.ca)

[Chris Hayes]

I thought the pyrocumulus I posted was cool. If I were driving in Canada at the time and didnt know about the fire, I would have taken a picture of that thinking it's a storm :p But, that is one intense forest fire. How many acres burned in that fire, George?

[George Kourounis]

I seem to remember the firefighters discussing it being 3000 Hectares which converts to about 7400 acres burned. It was huge but luckily, out in the middle of nowhere.

[Willie Dines]

George, those are some awesome pics man, and I echo Joel's reply, that blaze was nothing short of a monster :)

Great pics once again and I'm glad that the fire was out in the open and not endangering any people or proprty, but it is a shame to see so many trees destroyed.

Willie

[George Kourounis]

Actually, big fires like this are good for the forest. They depend on a constant cycle of burning and re-growth. The forest service up there doesn't even try to fight any fire that doesn't threaten a structure or road.

Some species of tree will actually only seed at extremely high temperatures like those in a wildfire. So sometimes, it is not only welcome, but needed by the forest to survive.

One problem with modern fire fighting techniques is that in many places, they fight hard to put out all fires, no matter where thay are. This causes the underbrush to build up with more and more fuel each year and finally, when there is a big fire...It become really catastrophic.

I've posted this picture before but it's from one of my favoutite fires. It was in Thunder Bay, north of Lake Superior. I was filming with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in one of their helicopters as they were performing a controlled burnout operation. Talk about spectacular!!!

(Photo credit shared by myself and the Ministry of NR)

http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Thunder_Bay/Thunder_Bay_Fires_08.JPG

More pictures from this fire can be found Here:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Thunder_Bay/Thunder_Bay.html

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca (http://www.stormchaser.ca)

[Willie Dines]

Yet another nice image :)

I see what you mean though and it makes sense :)

Have you ever managed to get any pics of a good firenado in any of the wild fires that you've photographed? :)

Willie

[George Kourounis]

I've yet to see a good fire vortex, but I have seen a really tight smoke devil in a grassfire in Oklahoma many years ago.

It didn't last long but it was very well formed.

http://www.stormchaser.ca/Fires/Smokedevil/0014.jpg

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca (http://www.stormchaser.ca)

[Willie Dines]

Sweet pic :D

I don't know if you saw the video clip I posted in another thread, but it's certainly worth checking out, as I would be interested to see what everyone's thoughts are on it :)

Willie

[Glenn Rivers]

I wonder if the Pic from the Yukon fire was producing rain, hail or lightning? apparently some Pyrocumulus do spawn some pretty hefty thunderstorms. Mike...do you know what the cloud top height of this thing was? Also, this makes me wonder, does any one know of a case where a very large structure fire (say a warehouse) triggered a thunderstorm?

[Rocky Rascovich]

Hey George, or any other Canadian on this forum: Is it true that in Canada, if you are traveling through an area where a forest fire is occurring and threatening human life and property, the government can "draft" you into service to help fight the fire?? I was told this a long time ago by some folks up in Thunder Bay. They said, any male between 18-49 can be asked to help if needed. Can they ask anybody? regardless if you are Canadian, or not..? Or was I mislead??

Anyway... those are some outlandish photo's, great work!

[Robert Dewey]

Hey George, or any other Canadian on this forum: Is it true that in Canada, if you are traveling through an area where a forest fire is occurring and threatening human life and property, the government can "draft" you into service to help fight the fire?? I was told this a long time ago by some folks up in Thunder Bay. They said, any male between 18-49 can be asked to help if needed. Can they ask anybody? regardless if you are Canadian, or not..? Or was I mislead??

Anyway... those are some outlandish photo's, great work!

Ha, interesting... I've heard that they also do that in the UP of Michigan, with some less than credible folks saying they have been "drafted" in the past.