By admin 
A Kuna resident captured video of an unusual weather phenomenon near a local wildfire Wednesday.
Read more Mississippi grand jury indicts man for death threats in Nolan Wells investigation
Julia Durham and her husband were driving in an area north of Swan Falls Dam to see whether they could find the source of what became the Cave Fire when they saw a rare sight. A fire whirl — also known as a fire tornado or fire devil — full of ash and smoke was spinning up into the summer air.
Durham said they spotted it at about 5:50 p.m. off of South Swan Falls Road while driving between West Nicholson and West Victory Lane. She said they were driving because her husband was curious to see whether the fire began in the same area where her husband recently helped an out-of-state camper who had become stuck off-road.
“Once we got out there, it was just mesmerizing!” Durham said in a message to the Idaho Statesman. “We’ve never seen anything like it around here!”
The Cave Fire grew to 2,164 acres before crews fully contained it at about 2 a.m. Thursday, according to a U.S. Wildland Fire Service statement.
Wildfires cause unstable conditions
Jackson Macfarlane, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Boise, watched Durham’s video and confirmed to the Statesman that it appeared to show a fire whirl.
Macfarlane explained that fire whirls can form when heat generated by a wildfire rises so rapidly that the air begins to spin, similar to how a dust devil or a landspout forms. They usually last only a couple of minutes at most, according to the meteorologist.
Read more West Nile confirmed in Midlands, SC health officials declare outbreak
They are fairly common when wildfires cause surface conditions to become “unstable,” Macfarlane said.
“It means the air is buoyant,” Macfarlane said. “That can help the air rise faster, and as it rises faster and faster, it naturally wants to spin to preserve its momentum.”
Strangely enough, however, a person standing just a short distance from the fire whirl might not even feel much of a change in the air, Macfarlane said.
“The wind around these can get very strong very close to the bottom of the whirl, but the moment you get a couple feet away from the whirl, then that circulation is so localized that it’s just kind of normal,” Macfarlane said.
The meteorologist said the footage captured by Durham was different than most he’s seen in videos and images.
“This one is one of the larger ones I’ve seen,” Macfarlane said. “And the way it’s kind of rising into the sun, too, that’s probably up there with some of the more spectacular videos I’ve seen of fire whirls.”
Read more Sweet tea, soda and candy ban for SC food stamp purchases delayed. Here’s why