Fire storm, violent convection caused by a continuous area of intense fire and characterized by destructively violent surface indrafts. Sometimes it is accompanied by tornado-like whirls that develop as hot air from the burning fuel rises. Such a fire is beyond human intervention and subsides only upon the consumption of everything combustible in the locality.

Yellowstone National Park: firestorm, 1988 Firestorm in Yellowstone National Park, northwestern Wyoming, U.S., 1988. Jeff Henry/National Park Service