Alaskan 'Firenado' Forms As Part Of Huge Tetlin Junction Fire (VIDEO)

What's scarier than a sharknado? A firenado -- because it actually exists.

More accurately known as a "fire whirl " or sometimes a "fire tornado ," footage of a particularly violent one in Alaska has caught the Internet's attention.

According to the video's uploader, Douglas Burts, the footage is of Alaska's Tetlin Junction Fire . The clip, captured on Aug. 16, was filmed from a plane window, around 1,900 feet above the blaze. A report filed the next day noted the fire's 5,000-acre plume had "tornado strength" winds and several fire whirls .

The fire is believed to have been started on June 25 by a lightning strike. As of Aug. 19, the Tetlin Junction Ridge Fire had grown to 76,548 acres in size and was 50 percent contained.

National Geographic reports fire tornados are a rarely documented phenomenon , though they are believed to occur somewhat frequently.

Watch the Alaskan 'firenado' in the video above -- skip to 1:34 to see it -- and learn how fire tornadoes occur by watching the clip below.