Fire burns through the forest above Stehekin, Wash. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Questions:

1. An important cause of a firestorm is the _____ ______. Here, when air heated by the fire rises in a hot column, the fire’s heat draws more air in from its surroundings. Fill in the blank.

2. One of the most intense bombing raids during World War II, comparable in strength to the atomic weapons, was the bombing of a German city named _______. On February 13-15, 1945, the U.S. Air Force destroyed 6.5 sq. km of it and killed 25,000 people by creating a firestorm. Fill in the blank.

3. What is the name for the cumulus clouds that are created by large fires, including firestorms?

4. Name the February 7, 2009, bushfire that produced the most intense firestorm in recorded history to date in Australia. It released 1,500-times as much energy as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

5. A ____ _____ is created when eddies of air spinning in the air, like a vortex, trap some combustible gas or other substances that have since caught fire. Fill in the blanks. They are a common sight in firestorms.

Visual:

Name the fire event depicted in this famous painting. It began on July 18 in 64 AD, raged for nine days, and destroyed 70% of its host city, possibly with a firestorm.

Answers:

1. Stack effect

2. Dresden

3. Flammagenitus

4. Black Saturday

5. Fire whirl

Visual: Great Fire of Rome