Firefighters from the Coos Forest Protective Association are trying to save one of the world’s tallest Douglas fir trees, a 325-foot behemoth on the Oregon Coast known as the Doerner Fir.
At 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 16, the association received a call alerting them of the fire on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land east of Coquille, Oregon.
Firefighters have set up a containment line with sprinklers to prevent the fire from spreading near the ground.
While helicopter teams were able to douse the flames engulfing the canopy above, there’s still a fire burning inside the trunk of the tree about 250 feet up.
However, due to fallout from the treetop, the BLM said in a press release Monday that “fire managers have ruled out the possibility of utilizing tree climbing crews to reach the remaining fire activity within the tree.”
According to the release, firefighters are looking for other ways to put out the remaining flames. The Doerner Fir Recreation Area will be closed until further notice.
Megan Harper, a BLM public affairs specialist, said the tree’s height makes it more vulnerable to lightning. But for her, the fire still comes as a surprise.
“It’s actually pretty rare to have one of these big old trees catch fire like this,” she said.
But Harper also remains optimistic despite the difficulty of fully extinguishing the fire.
“Being a whole tree, the chances that the whole tree is going to burn is pretty small,” Harper said. “I think that there will definitely be the Doerner Fir still there.”
OPB’s Oregon Field Guide met with tree climbers in 2017 who marveled at the historic tree, then known as the Brummit Fir.
Today, the tree is unique for its height. But for years, the tree was surrounded by many other giants until intensive logging reduced their numbers.
Crews will remain on scene as they work to preserve the tree, which is estimated to be at least 450 years old.
BLM fire investigators are still looking into what may have caused the fire.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.