French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time
The rising air cools and becomes a cloud, or fire cloud: a turbulent mass that can generate its own winds that worsen fires. If it becomes very large it can even generate lightning.Hitherto, they have only really been seen in wildfire-prone Australia and North America. NASA calls them the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds".What causes them?FNSPF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eric Brocardi: "The rise in ground temperature at the heart of the blaze is so extreme that the intense heat surges upward in a column, meeting cooler air masses at the top.
- ▪The rising air cools and becomes a cloud, or fire cloud: a turbulent mass that can generate its own winds that worsen fires.
- ▪If it becomes very large it can even generate lightning.Hitherto, they have only really been seen in wildfire-prone Australia and North America.
- ▪NASA calls them the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds".What causes them?FNSPF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eric Brocardi: "The rise in ground temperature at the heart of the blaze is so extreme that the intense heat surges upward in a column
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| Original publisher | France 24 |
| Canonical URL | https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260726-french-firefighters-face-pyrocumulonimbus-for-first-time |
| Publication time | Sun, 26 Jul 2026 17:49:44 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-26T18:18:16.584Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-26T18:18:20.141Z |
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Advertising Home Live news French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time Paris (France) (AFP) – The gigantic wildfire ravaging southwest France has created an extremely dangerous "pyrocumulonimbus" -- a phenomenon never before seen in the country -- the spokesman for the country's National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF) told AFP. Issued on: 26/07/2026 - 16:49 2 min Reading time Share The main wildfire burning in France's southwest has created a 'fire cloud', which generates its own winds © ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP/File Such a formation, also called a cumulonimbus flammagenitus cloud, can be seen during volcanic eruptions -- or, as in this case, when a wildfire roasts the air near the ground, causing it to rise quickly.
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