The state’s tallest fir tree is burning along the Oregon coast.
The Douglas Fire (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is the most common tree in Oregon, but the burning tree known as Doerner Fir is special. 325 feet (99.1 meters) tall and 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) in diameter, it is one of the largest coastal Douglas Fir trees in the world and one of the largest trees on the planet.
It is believed to be at least 450 years old and grows in forests east of Coquil, Oregon, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
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The COOS Forest Conservation Association of Oregon (COOS FPA) reported the fire on Sunday (August 17) in a Facebook post. The fire began on August 16th, and the Doerner FIR has been burning ever since. According to the COOS FPA, the flame was detected at the top of the tree and stretched its trunk. The Doerner Fir was the only tree affected by the flames.
Firefighters at COOS FPA worked to control the fire and built containment lines around the base of the wood. Moisten the trunk from underneath to prevent the fire from spreading. Use a helicopter to cover the top of the tree with a bucket of water.
According to an update to the COOS FPA on Facebook, the drone deployed by BLM captured images from The Treatop to capture the treetop image.
Related: The World’s Oldest Tree (and Seven Runner-ups)
On Tuesday evening (August 19th), the flames were no longer visible directly. However, images of the infrared drone showed a hot spot in the trunk, about 250 feet (76 m) above the ground, where the fire was still burning.
The weather is expected to be hotter and drier this week, and firefighters are wary of preventing fire from spreading across the surrounding trees, the COOS FPA reported.
So far, about 50 feet (15 m) from the top of the historic FIR has been lost to the fire, BLM spokesman Megan Harper told the Associated Press. Though he lost his previous record-breaking height, wood is likely to survive the fire, Harper added.
“The wood is so big and so massive that it will take a long time for it to burn all the way through the wood,” Harper told the AP.
BLM representatives ruled out lightning strikes as a cause of the fire, based on a recent review of weather data. According to the COOS FPA, authorities continue to investigate how the fire began.
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