Report: Massive Fire Tornado Killed Redding Firefighter

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Officials say a firefighter who died helping people evacuate in the early days of the Carr Fire was killed by a fire tornado that at one point reached a temperature of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says in a report that Redding firefighter Jeremy Stoke died after he was enveloped in seconds by a fire tornado with a base the size of three football fields and winds up to 165 miles an hour. The report obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle says that on July 26 the 37-year-old fire inspector was driving his pickup truck down a road, working on evacuating people. One minute later he radioed out a “mayday” call saying he was getting burned over, and then his transmissions abruptly stopped.

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