The Doerner Fir, a coastal Douglas Fir tree over 325 feet (99 meters) tall and estimated to be over 450 years old, has been burning since the 16 August in Coos County in Oregon’s Coast Range, according to reports from AP News.
AP News also shared how an infrared drone flight on 19 August showed no active flames or smoke at the top of the tree, but it detected heat within a cavity in the tree trunk some 280 feet high.
Federal Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Megan Harper said: “Figuring out how to approach the tree form the side to douse the cavity with water has been a challenge.
“Various options have been discussed, including building scaffolding or climbing adjacent trees for better positioning, or letting it smolder and monitoring to see if it reignites.”
Harper also shared how crews have remained on-site since the 19 August, with a helicopter on standby in case of needed water drops.
The Coos Forest Protective Association said on the 18 August that helicopter bucket drops had reduced fire activity near the top of the tree.
It added that sprinklers were placed at the base of the tree, where containment lines were also constructed to prevent further fire spread.
The fire may impact the tree’s standing in global height rankings, Harper said. According to Harper, the fire may be impact the free’s standing in global height rankings.
She added: “We’ve lost about 50 feet of it, just from fire and pieces falling out”, noting that the 50 feet (15 meters) were lost through the top burning.
“So I don’t know where it’ll stand after this, but it’s still a magnificent tree.”
Investigators with the Bureau of Land Management have ruled out lightning as a cause of the fire based on weather data, the federal agency shared. It is the only tree on fire in the immediate vicinity and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
It has been reported that the tree is not at risk of fully burning down for now because of the sheer mass of the Fir tree.
The Doerner Fir, a coastal Douglas Fir tree over 325 feet (99 meters) tall and estimated to be over 450 years old, has been burning since the 16 August in Coos County in Oregon‘s Coast Range, according to reports from AP News.
