An awe-struck filmmaker has told of the moment he witnessed one of nature's rarest phenomena - a fire tornado.
A fire tornado, also know as a fire devil, is caused when a column of warm, rising air comes into contact - or causes - a fire on the ground.
These fire whirls are known to last for around two minutes on the very rare occasions they take place.
Chris Tangey had been out in Alice Springs, Australia, scouting locations for a new movie.Just 300 metres away was a 30-metre high fire swirl which "sounded like a fighter jet", despite there being no wind in the area.
The 52-year-old said: "The weather was perfectly still and it was about 25 degrees celsius - it was an entirely uneventful day.
"Then the next thing a man is yelling 'what the hell is that?' and I turned around and saw a 30-metre fire tornado.
"I was about 300 metres away and there was no wind but the tornado sounded just like a fighter jet. My jaw just dropped."
Chris, who runs Alice Springs Film and Television, in Australia, described it as a "once in ten lifetimes experience".
