Terrifying video shows firefighters fleeing fire tornado
Some dramatic moments caught on video show firefighters in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada fleeing a dangerous fire tornado that threatened to engulf them.
The footage was shot last week but recently surfaced, showing firefighters battling the blaze.
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The fire began as a campfire that burned out of control and some of the firefighters battling the blaze jumped in the nearby Sturgeon River to escape the flames, according to the CBC. High winds and heat spun the flames around into a vortex that reached hundreds of feet into the air.
Four fire trucks and more than a dozen firefighters responded to the blaze, which burned last Thursday afternoon, just northwest of Edmonton.
Fortunately no one was hurt in the fire, but about 20 acres were burned.
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Frefighter Vincent Pashko told the CBC, "The little bit of brush that was behind us lit on fire and ... created a windmill, almost like a tornado... I could feel the heat coming up over my head, and I ran to Big Lake and dropped into the water to cool myself off."
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Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
