One of the tallest trees in the world has been burning for days. The 320-foot-tall Douglas Fir is one of the world's tallest non-redwood trees in the world. It's located in Oregon.
Dubbed the Doerner Fir, the tree is hundreds of years old and located in the Coast Range Mountains. Speaking with People, Megan Harper, a public affairs specialist for the Bureau of Land Management, explained what's going on with the fire. It was first noticed on August 16 with firefighters working to put it out.
Fortunately, they contained it to just the tree itself.
"There's actually one area about 280 feet off the tree that is still smoking. And has a little fire in it. That's the part that firefighters are working to figure out how to extinguish. Or if it's even possible to extinguish," Harper said. "The rest of the tree is pretty well-cooled."
"We have a firefighting crew on the ground who is working under and around the tree to lay hose and sprinklers to keep the fire out around the base of the tree," she also added. "we've been able to use helicopters with buckets underneath that can drop water on the top of the tree and penetrate somewhat down through the canopy to the forest floor."
One Of Tallest Trees Burns
Sadly, what can be done for the tallest tree? The fire burned from the top of the tree down. At this time, it's hard to tell how much the damage has been done to the plant.
"Right now, it's looking like some parts, it only burned on the outside. There's a few places where it burned inside, but overall it wasn't a huge part of the tree," she said. "I'm hearing from folks on the ground that it's got a lot of structural integrity still, that there's still a lot of wood in there that didn't burn. And so right now, there's no immediate danger of it falling."
