Europe's Wildfire Crisis Enters a 'New Dimension' Ferocious wildfires raging across France and Spain have already forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, but the situation has become even more dire due to fire clouds.
These rare formations create powerful storms that spread fires and make them harder to contain. At first glance, "fire cloud" sounds like something out of a disaster movie, but it's all too real.
Intense heat from wildfires generates an updraft of superheated air that can trigger powerful storms. This phenomenon is known as pyrocumulonimbus, or "pyroCb.