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Key points
- Firefighters in southwest France are contending with pyrocumulonimbus clouds while trying to control a forest fire in Gironde.
- Jean-Baptiste Filippi said the fire-generated storms can create winds and lightning capable of spreading embers or starting new fires.
- Filippi said France recorded brief pyrocumulonimbus activity near Landiras, south of Bordeaux, in 2022, but the phenomenon remains relatively new there.
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Firefighters in southwest France are facing pyrocumulonimbus clouds during efforts to control a forest fire, researcher Jean-Baptiste Filippi said.
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