1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,520 This is how California looks right now from 250 miles above Earth. Astronaut Alexander 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:10,480 Gerst snapped these photos as he flew overhead aboard the International Space Station. And 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,640 we're learning more about the wicked storm that roared across Shasta County and into 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,080 Redding last week. A freak of nature, the Firenado. 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,880 KPIX 5 reporter Wilson Walker spoke with experts about the dramatic weather event. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:23,880 Wilson? 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:29,780 Well, more than a quarter of a mile wide, rising some 16,000 feet into the air, churning 8 00:00:29,780 --> 00:00:34,580 across the ground for as long as 80 minutes, whatever you call it. The firestorm that 9 00:00:34,580 --> 00:00:39,380 burned into Redding last week was not something we see very often. And even the experts are 10 00:00:39,380 --> 00:00:42,020 at a loss for words. 11 00:00:42,020 --> 00:00:45,820 Heat rapidly rising off the ground. And that's what happened with this fire world. We saw 12 00:00:45,820 --> 00:00:50,300 a lot of erratic winds in the intense heating that had to escape and go upward. And with 13 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:52,860 that created this monster fire world that we saw. 14 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:56,940 That is Michael Kachasik with the National Weather Service, part of a multi-agency team 15 00:00:57,340 --> 00:01:03,460 trying to better understand the incredible winds that surrounded and drove the car fire, 16 00:01:03,460 --> 00:01:08,500 causing widespread damage even in areas where the fire itself did not burn. 17 00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:14,940 Preliminarily, they saw uprooted trees, bark stripped from a tree, which is pretty impressive. 18 00:01:14,940 --> 00:01:20,980 That takes an incredible amount of wind, as well as high tension wire utility poles knocked 19 00:01:20,980 --> 00:01:22,980 down as well from the wind. 20 00:01:23,020 --> 00:01:29,020 And the best metric they've come up with for this kind of event, an EF3 tornado on 21 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:30,020 the Fujita scale. 22 00:01:30,020 --> 00:01:36,180 Very, very impressive wind speeds, estimated to be in excess of 143 miles per hour. 23 00:01:36,180 --> 00:01:41,180 I was up in Redding in those sort of overnight hours and when the sun came up that Friday 24 00:01:41,180 --> 00:01:45,580 morning and when the sun came up, I found myself just west of the river. And what I 25 00:01:45,580 --> 00:01:50,580 saw sort of stopped me in my tracks. I've seen a lot of fire aftermath, but the way 26 00:01:50,780 --> 00:01:56,180 the ground was blown smooth there, and I've shown you some pictures of that video, that 27 00:01:56,180 --> 00:02:01,180 would be indicative of that event having moved through that area? 28 00:02:01,180 --> 00:02:06,180 Absolutely. When you have burned evidence, but also the wind evidence, that there's 29 00:02:06,180 --> 00:02:10,300 not a whole lot of evidence there, everything's windswept away, it was definitely unusual. 30 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:16,100 So unusual that even the experts can't quite agree on what this phenomenon should be called. 31 00:02:16,620 --> 00:02:19,820 The debate will continue on for years as far as whether or not you classify that as a 32 00:02:19,820 --> 00:02:26,820 tornado or just a really intense fire world. But again, they're deadly and it's very unfortunate 33 00:02:26,820 --> 00:02:27,820 what happened up there. 34 00:02:27,820 --> 00:02:33,060 Now, that fire probably hit maximum strength right about the time it jumped the Sacramento 35 00:02:33,060 --> 00:02:37,380 and landed in the western neighborhoods of Redding. Now, an event like this in a populated 36 00:02:37,380 --> 00:02:43,620 area is extremely rare, but given the rate at which California's wildfires are intensifying, 37 00:02:44,140 --> 00:02:47,140 and the fact that the fire officials worry that this is exactly the kind of thing we 38 00:02:47,140 --> 00:02:49,140 might start seeing more of. 39 00:02:49,140 --> 00:02:51,140 Scary stuff. All right, Wilson. Thank you.