On Saturday, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) warned that a fire on the coast was generating its own weather system 287 km (178 miles) south of Sydney.

“A fire-generated thunderstorm has formed over the Currowan fire on the northern edge of the fire near Nowra. This is a very dangerous situation. Monitor the conditions around you and take appropriate action,” the RFS said on social media.

The weather conditions are the results of the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. They have been recorded all over the world but as the global climate changes, they may become a more frequent occurrence for Australians, the country’s Climate Council said in a 2019 report.

A RFS firefighter was killed on Monday by a fire tornado caused by the collapse of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud formation that rolled over the fire truck he was in.

Shane Fitzsimmons, the NSW RFS commissioner, pointed to that death when asked about the fire-induced weather patterns.

“That extraordinary event resulted in cyclonic-type base flipping over a 10-tonne truck. That is the volatility and danger that exists,” he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-bushfires-firestorms/authorities-warn-australian-bushfires-developing-their-own-weather-systems-idUSKBN1Z3077?il=0