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A rescue helicopter has been filmed rescuing people from a campervan caught in floods in the South Island.The footage posted to Twitter shows the helicopter hovering over a camper that appears to be swamped by fast-running floodwaters.The…

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Alice Angeloni, Local Democracy Reporter About 50 border workers in Gisborne still need to be vaccinated against Covid-19.A new Government health order announced on Monday requires workers at ports and airports to be vaccinated…

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Queensland has recorded one new case of COVID-19 today, with the case being a traveller detected in hotel quarantine.

The doughnut day for the state comes just days after an initial COVID Delta variant scare from a teenager in Sydney hotel quarantine before travelling positive to Queensland.

Queensland's borders to Victoria were also closed at 1am Saturday morning amid its growing COVID outbreak from two Sydney removalists.

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"Anyone returning after that time … will have to do the 14 days mandatory quarantine," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said yesterday.

"I just think the clear message to Queenslanders is definitely do not go to NSW and do not go to Victoria during this period of time."

Professor Paul Griffin from the University of Queensland told Today yesterday that if the state keeps its case numbers low it could avoid another lockdown.

"If we don't see any cases in its next few days we might escape one," Dr Griffin said.

"We are on a knife-edge."

9News understands that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will not be holding a COVID update press conference today.

Smoke and heat from a massive wildfire in southeastern Oregon in the US are creating giant "fire clouds" over the blaze — dangerous columns of smoke and ash that can reach up to 10km in the sky and are visible from more than 160km away.

Authorities have put these clouds at the top of the list of the extreme fire behaviour they are seeing on the Bootleg Fire, the largest wildfire burning in the US.

The inferno has grown to about 194 square kilometres, larger than the size of New York City, and was raging through a part of the US that is enduring a historic drought.

READ MORE: 'Whole town is on fire': Hottest village in Canada evacuated

The fire was so dangerous overnight that authorities pulled out crews. Meteorologists this week also spotted a bigger, more extreme form of fire clouds — ones that can create their own weather, including "fire tornadoes."

Extreme fire behaviour, including the formation of more fire clouds, was expected to persist today and worsen over the weekend.

READ MORE: Firefighters make progress against devastating blazes on US west coast

What are fire clouds?

Pyrocumulus or "fire" clouds look like giant, dirty-colored thunderheads that sit atop a massive column of smoke coming up from a wildfire. Often the top of the smoke column flattens out to take the shape of an anvil.

In Oregon, fire authorities say the clouds are forming between 3pm-5pm each day as the sun penetrates the smoke layer and heats the ground below, creating an updraft of hot air. On this fire, crews are seeing the biggest and most dangerous clouds over a section of wilderness that's made up mostly of dead trees, which burn instantly and with a lot of heat.

For four days in a row, the Bootleg Fire has generated multiple fire clouds that rise nearly 10km into the atmosphere and are "easily visible from 160km to 193km away", authorities said Friday.

The conditions that create the clouds were expected to worsen over the weekend.

READ MORE: Giant sequoia still smouldering from 2020 California wildfire

What's the science behind these clouds?

When air over the fire becomes super-heated, it rises in a large column. As the air with more moisture rises, it rushes up the smoke column into the atmosphere, and the moisture condenses into droplets. That's what creates the "fire clouds" that look much like the thunderheads seen before a big thunderstorm.

These clouds, however, hold more than just water. Ash and particles from the fire also get swept into them, giving them a dark gray, ominous look.

Is there something even more dangerous than a fire cloud?

Yes. When a pyrocumulus cloud forms over a fire, meteorologists begin to watch carefully for its big brother, the pyrocumulonimbus cloud.

NASA has called the latter the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds" because they are so hot and big that they create their own weather.

In a worst-case scenario, fire crews on the ground could see one of the monster clouds spawn a "fire tornado," generate its own dry lightning and create dangerous hot winds below. They can also send particulate matter from the smoke column up to 16km above Earth's surface.

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So far, most of the clouds on the Bootleg Fire have been the less-intense fire clouds, but the National Weather Service on Wednesday spotted a pyrocumulonimbus cloud forming on what it called "terrifying" satellite imagery.

"Please send positive thoughts and well wishes to the firefighters … It's a tough time for them right now," the weather service said in a tweet.

How dangerous are these clouds?

Both types of fire clouds pose serious risks for firefighters.

Multiple pyrocumulus clouds have been spotted for four consecutive days, and one of them on the southern flank of the fire partially collapsed Thursday, causing dangerous winds and embers to fall on crews.

That prompted the emergency evacuation of all firefighters and dirt-moving equipment from that part of the fire line. Authorities say there have been no reported injuries.

"We're expecting those exact same conditions to develop today and even worsen into the weekend," fire spokeswoman Holly Krake said today.

Where else have these clouds formed?

These types of fire-induced clouds are becoming more common as climate change lengthens and intensifies the wildfire season across the US and in other places, including Australia.

A wildfire in British Columbia last month that levelled an entire town also generated a pyrocumulonimbus cloud.

Blazes in California in 2020 and in the years before have created multiple pyrocumulus clouds, with the Creek Fire in the Fresno area generating a mighty pyrocumulonimbus cloud last fall.

Australia's Black Summer bushfires in January 2020 also produced pyrocumulonimbus clouds that threatened to produce a fire tornado.