Incredible fire tornado caught on camera as firefighters battle against raging blaze

A fire tornado, dubbed by the residents of Ashby-de-la-Zouch as a "firenado," left destruction in its path as firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze.

Footage of the tornado, also known as a fire whirl, was shared by the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Servies on Facebook and the clip shows the devastation at a factory in Woodville.

The whirl is created when the heat of a fire rises to the colder air above. When the hot and cold air combines, it creates the "swirl."

Read more on our Twitter account, @amomama_usa, and scroll down to see the spectacular footage.

Combined with the contents of the Ravensbourne Plastics factory on Occupation Lane, thick black plumes of smoke bellowed as the firefighters struggled to control the blaze.

More than ten fire engines were needed to fight the fire. The service station said on Facebook:

"In the early hours of this morning Firefighters from Ashby Station were called to a large fire at Occupation Lane."

Residents were urged to stay indoors and keep their windows closed. No injuries were reported, and factory workers were told not to report for duty.

Three employees were on duty when the fire broke out and it took more than 12 hours to be extinguished.

Clean-up crews could only return the following afternoon and found more than 600,000 plastic pallets, bread trays, and plastic crates had perished in the blaze.

Factory managers are "completely gutted" by the devastation caused but have not yet confirmed the monetary value of the damaged goods.

Back in July, a fire tornado devastated California, destroying nearly 104,000 acres and causing the death of four residents and two firefighters.

Thousands of homes in Carr were reduced to ashes. The whirl lasted for days and was described as the "7th most destructive" wildfire in California's history.