Firestorms are thought to have been part of the mechanism of large urban fires , such as accompanied the 1755 Lisbon earthquake , the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake . Genuine firestorms are occurring more frequently in California wildfires , such as the 1991 wildfire disaster in Oakland , California , and the October 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa , California . During the July – August 2018 Carr Fire , a deadly fire vortex equivalent in size and strength to an EF-3 tornado spawned during the firestorm in Redding , California and caused tornado-like wind damage . Firestorms were also created by the firebombing raids of World War II in cities like Hamburg and Dresden . Of the two nuclear weapons used in combat , only Hiroshima resulted in a firestorm
1991 wildfire disaster in Oakland , California
Oakland firestorm of 1991
Firestorm