A brush fire near the Angeles National Forest created a fire tornado that sucked up nearby brush and ripped through a hillside on Wednesday evening.
The Lake Fire quickly burned through 10,000 acres after being spotted on Wednesday afternoon. The blaze was fueled by an excess of brush in a region of California that has not burned since 1968, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Veronica Miracle, a reporter with ABC 7, captured footage of a fire tornado that was sucking in nearby brush and adding to the destruction.
I have never seen anything like this. The #LakeFire is moving fast toward Lake Hughes. It created a fire tornado on this hill and it’s sucking everything inside. @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/PwzepwKHKp
— Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) August 13, 2020
More than 100 homes and other buildings were evacuated, but it is not clear if any homes have been destroyed. Roughly 500 firefighters were deployed to the area, but the fire was listed as 0% contained on Wednesday night.
The Los Angeles Fire Department noted that the blaze featured “explosive fire behavior.” Robert Garcia, the Angeles National Forest fire chief, told CBS News that the steep hills in the area have made the fire difficult to contain.
“It’s pretty explosive fire behavior,” Garcia said. “It’s typically what we see a little bit later in the season and often driven by wind. The fuel, moisture conditions and the fire at this particular location with the slope, it really created the recipe for rapid fire growth.”
