While crown fires now occur commonly as a consequence of fuel accumulation due to fire prevention in areas that would naturally burn with surface fire, a number of communities naturally burn with crown fires. Most common locally is the chaparral. Forests of lodgepole pine, Bishop pine, sand pine and jack pine also typically burn with crown fires. In these species, the cones are waxy and don't open to drop seeds until a crown fire burns off the needles and heats the cone enough to melt the wax. Then, over a few days, the cones gradually open, dropping millions of seeds into the fresh ash.
Fire storms occur in areas where chaparral or forest have been protected from fire for many years.
In the sense that fuel would never accumulate to the extent to support such an intense fire, fire storms are a product of modern fire prevention. Fire storms have also been ignited in cities by saturation bombing during warfare. During World War II, both Berlin and Tokyo suffered fire storms. More people died in the Tokyo fire storm than died in the Nuclear blast at Nagasaki. They smolder underground, burning without flame and may continue for years, occasionally breaking through to the surface and igniting a surface fire.