Researchers in the University of Maryland Department of Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) have published a review of ‘fire whirls’ – a powerful vortex of swirling flames, often the destructive force in urban and wildland fires – in the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. Their size, unpredictable nature, and ability to propel burning embers (i.e., firebrands) far into the air present many reasons to study them, yet these whirling flames are still poorly understood.