'Fire tornado’ forces firefighter to plunge into lake

Footage shows how dangerous the bush fire at Big Lake became in a matter of seconds.

The fire tornado was reportedly caused by careless campers, and it was so dangerous that a firefighter was forced to plunge into lake.

In a video posted by the St Albert Fire Department over the weekend, the footage shows how the fire fighter, Vincent Pashko, got too close to the flames.

To protect himself, Pashko was reportedly forced to jump into the nearby Sturgeon River, which he refers to as a lake.

"I turned around and I just seen a big wall of ash coming towards me. I turned away from it and I knew that the lake was south of me so as it hit me I could feel the heat impinging on my shoulders and the back of my neck and ears so I just kind of ran to the lake, dunked myself in and cooled myself off. I was really lucky. It's just one of those things," Pashko told CBC.

He was released from hospital on Friday.

See the horrific fire tornado in the below video.