firestorm

Fire which rapidly grows out of control by sucking in surrounding air and so feeds itself in an accelerating cycle. The phenomenon is capable of causing immense devastation in urban areas and is generally associated with intense incendiary bombing raids; possibly the most notorious example was the Allied bombing raid on Dresden in February 1945, although the effect was first seen in the RAF raid on Hamburg in July 1943.

When a large number of incendiary bombs are dropped in a small urban area, the intense heat of the fires causes the warm air to rise, thus drawing in fresh, cold air from the surrounding area. This cold air causes the fires to burn more fiercely, causing the hot air to rise faster, drawing in more cold air and thus forming an accelerating cycle. The incoming air soon reaches very high speeds, sufficient to knock people over or even sweep them into the fire, and the fires themselves become uncontrollable.