Comments on: Fire Tornado!!!!

Fire Tornado!!!!

Confess, Fletch — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:52:07 -0800

Homemade Fire Tornado!!!!

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:07:13 -0800

ok. awesome. Thanks for this.

By: eriko

eriko — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:09:25 -0800

Dude, that rates somewhere between OH YEAH! and OH FUCK YEAH! Very cool. Thanks!

By: thetoken

thetoken — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:14:24 -0800

I didn't see a "don't try this at home" warning, and so I think I might just try this at home... or a barely used parking lot seems like a much safer bet. Wicked stuff.

By: MrBobaFett

MrBobaFett — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:18:42 -0800

I need to do this. Oh so badly.

By: explosion

explosion — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:19:00 -0800

Can any experienced pyrotechnicians explain why they're pulling the fans away later in the video?

By: sneebler

sneebler — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:20:21 -0800

So that's what Stonehenge was for!

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:20:56 -0800

Can any experienced pyrotechnicians explain why they're pulling the fans away later in the video? It looks to me that once they have the PILLAR OF FIRE, they're able to see that the air vortex is pretty rough and they adjust the fans until they get the airflow just right.

By: ceribus peribus

ceribus peribus — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:22:50 -0800

How long until the hipster version, with those Dyson fans?

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:22:57 -0800

Mesmerizing. Really cool to watch the currents oscillating in the column.

By: JimmyJames

JimmyJames — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:24:09 -0800

Can any experienced pyrotechnicians explain why they're pulling the fans away later in the video? I would also assume that the fire tornado is kicking out ginormous amounts of heat that are most likely incompatable with plastic box fans. See also: Fire Triangle for a quick primer on basic pyrodynamics.

By: eriko

eriko — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:28:59 -0800

Can any experienced pyrotechnicians explain why they're pulling the fans away later in the video? 1) Too much wind will just disrupt the spiral. 2) Too much heat will melt the fans.

By: Sing Or Swim

Sing Or Swim — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:31:00 -0800

It's all very well until you put someone's eye out.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:31:37 -0800

And the Lord said unto the Israelites, "Check this out, yo" and the Lord didst plug in a multitude of fans and arranged them encircling a bonfire, and the flames whirled about and lit up the sky in the midst of the desert. And the Israelites were like, "Whoa."

By: ceribus peribus

ceribus peribus — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:34:10 -0800

Being the proper fire for roasting spiral-cut hot dogs.

By: rebent

rebent — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:36:11 -0800

question two: Any experienced pyrotechnicians want to explain what the heck they're burning to pull out flames that tall?!?

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:40:40 -0800

rebent: It says in the comments several bottles of lighter fluid.

By: rtha

rtha — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:42:07 -0800

This was really beautiful. I will not try this at home. Thanks!

By: Stunt

Stunt — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:48:11 -0800

son of a BITCH. I hadn't even said anything yet... my wife looked up, saw me watching this, and immediately vetoed me doing this tomorrow. I responded with "well, yeah, of course. We don't have that many fans". She then vetoed me doing it ever. I find her lack of faith disturbing.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:48:20 -0800

I await the SciFi, er SyFy, movie: FireNado.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:53:17 -0800

Finally, my ancestors are released from the fires of hell.

By: likeso

likeso — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:54:08 -0800

Is it just me, or was that a Fire Goddess swirling in flame?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:54:51 -0800

Why is this so mesmerizing?

By: mondo dentro

mondo dentro — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:02:41 -0800

Looks like I'm going to Sam's Club tomorrow.

By: SLC Mom

SLC Mom — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:06:24 -0800

i am totally doing this on my camping trip in August. We'll just plug the fans into the AC adaptor and Bob's your uncle.

By: SLC Mom

SLC Mom — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:07:10 -0800

I. I. I. will create the fire. Not i.

By: pombe

pombe — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:08:16 -0800

Here's a larger scale version using liquid propane.

By: straw

straw — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:23:02 -0800

I am carefully avoiding showing this to my wife because I want to avoid explaining to law enforcement tomorrow just what that 30' pillar of fire was doing in my quiet neighborhood...

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:32:35 -0800

Tell the cops to come back after you're done receiving the commandments from the Lord.

By: facetious

facetious — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:39:22 -0800

man i just burned the *shit* out of my ceiling

By: cribcage

cribcage — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:43:27 -0800

Sometimes SLYT is awesome.

By: barrett caulk

barrett caulk — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:01:00 -0800

Cue re-invigorated nationwide rash of all-consuming wildfires . . .

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:11:33 -0800

why'd you burn up old lady semple's pension check, trashy?

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:24:31 -0800

Suck it, CGI! Now this is a practical effect.

By: chairface

chairface — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:53:00 -0800

pombe linked to video of the guys I photographed years ago. Large and dynamic fires are hard to photograph well without a tripod.

By: pdxpogo

pdxpogo — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 01:04:20 -0800

If you just happen to have a dozen box fans laying around doing nothing a nice way to spice up the campfire I think I'll stick to s'mores.

By: lith

lith — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 02:54:45 -0800

Purty. Magna Fire Tornado - high-speed video (420fps)

By: TedW

TedW — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:43:30 -0800

Someone needs to show this to Arthur Brown

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:16:03 -0800

Call me old-fashioned, but I still think the homemade fire tornadoes are better than the store-bought kind.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:20:47 -0800

This is kind of like the reverse of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, isn't it? Instead of having one blower trying to shut off a bunch of candles, you have a bunch of blowers trying to turn on one candle.

By: the noob

the noob — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:36:18 -0800

What is with us humans? We can sit and watch youtube clips of fire for hours into the night.

By: likeso

likeso — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:41:16 -0800

Musta been a defining moment in evolution when Zog ran toward the fire.

By: Soupisgoodfood

Soupisgoodfood — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:00:20 -0800

The nature-made kind.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:32:01 -0800

Dumb question: Philip Glass, yes?

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:06:35 -0800

Speaking of Don't Try This at Home, that appeared to be indoors. (?) Details here

By: jjjjjjjijjjjjjj

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:14:34 -0800

OCD rage:

THAT ONE FUCKING GUY: "Oh, we're pulling fans back? I got this!" [pulls fan back, reaims it directly at the column] OTHER GUYS: [politely, unobtrusively reorient fans in correct tornado-potentiating direction, moving them back, slightly, to save TOFG's feelings] THAT ONE FUCKING GUY: "Oh, we're pulling fans back? I got this!" [pulls fan back, reaims it directly at the column]

By: gimonca

gimonca — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:34:04 -0800

Been there, done that.

By: misskaz

misskaz — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:00:49 -0800

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj, much to my husband's annoyance I could not stop myself from yelling at that guy. "What the fuck are you doing? Stop it, you're not doing it right!"

By: ctmf

ctmf — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:50:26 -0800

I think that guy had the right idea, but mis-aimed a bit. The fire was blowing over to the right too much. I think his idea was to tighten up the angle on the one in front until the fire tended toward the back, then turn in the ones on the right a bit, going around the circle like that. He was going for a monster, but everyone else kept backing them off to keep it steady. While everyone else is home laughing about that fire tornado they had that one time, this is the guy who's going to be secretly, obsessively chasing the perfect fire tornado. Next up: fan platforms that can rotate and slide towards or away from the fire. Linked to a central controller. With a laptop, be able to set vortex center point and inner radius. Start off with the fans blowing around in a wide circle and then turn them in to accelerate the vortex little by little.

By: ctmf

ctmf — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:53:15 -0800

Maybe another set of fans on platforms about six feet high.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:16:38 -0800

I dreamt of dragons last night, likely in part due to this. It was immensely satisfying, A++++ would dream again.

By: daisystomper

daisystomper — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 20:49:03 -0800

I heard my husband listening to this from another room and thought it was a Rolex commercial.

By: RolandOfEld

RolandOfEld — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 06:03:35 -0800

Because, ya'know.... fire tornado. It's my new catch phrase, we'll see how it does. I just never really liked racecars all that much.

By: berber

berber — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:42:30 -0800

Music by Carly Comando of Everyday video fame. As I recall, her profile used to say, "I am not Philip Glass."