It’s the kind of finding one would suspect from National Weather Service investigators along Tornado Alley in the wake of a deadly storm front. But it wasn’t. It was the measurement of the wind generated during the height of the firestorm that ripped through Redding last week, killing six people and damaging hundreds of homes.
On Thursday, NWS researcher combed through the wreckage left behind and determined a fire whirl — commonly known as a fire tornado — roared through the area between 7:30 p.m and 8 p.m. on July 26th. During his assessment of the battle against the Carr Fire, Gov. Jerry Brown cited the ferocity of the rarely seen phenomena. “These winds events, wind storms and tornado type behavior — some of this is unprecedented,” he told reporters. READ MORE
