France wildfire spawns rare pyrocumulonimbus cloud for first time

A wildfire in southwest France has generated a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb), a rare fire cloud never before recorded in the country. The blaze near Saumos, which began on July 22, burned over 420 sq km of forest, damaged or destroyed more than 240 homes, and forced 220,000 people to evacuate in Gironde. On July 24 at 6:20 pm, the departmental fire and rescue service reported that the fire had produced a pyroCb, a thundercloud that spawns lightning and erratic winds, potentially igniting new fires. The cloud weakened overnight but reformed several times. PyroCbs are more common in North America and Australia, occurring only over extreme fires. France's national firefighters federation confirmed this was the first recorded instance in the country.