Landiras2022

Fire-generated thunderstorms challenge wildfire crews in southwest France

• Firefighters in southwest France are contending with pyrocumulonimbus clouds while trying to control a forest fire in Gironde.
• Jean-Baptiste Filippi said the fire-generated storms can create winds and lightning capable of spreading embers or starting new fires.
• Filippi said France recorded brief pyrocumulonimbus activity near Landiras, south of Bordeaux, in 2022, but the phenomenon remains relatively new there.