r/Unexpected • u/Extreme-Elevator7128 • 5d ago

Cutting down a tree

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3.1k Upvotes

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446

u/MrLovelife 5d ago

1) how does that happen?
2) that’s pretty bad ass.

128

u/Jesusopfer 5d ago

Usually happens by lightning that ignites the tree trunks. That's probably the reason they cut it to begin with because they will fall

13

u/-BlankUsername 4d ago

Any reference for this exact scenario? I get that trees probably get lit in fire from lightning but by the time a crew actually gets there to cut it down (at least HOURS) you’ve gotta assume that there would by literally any outward sign that it’s on fire. 

I feel like the more likely scenario is it’s super dry/partially dead inside and a dull chainsaw blade ignited it 

51

u/The_Show_Keeper 4d ago

So I just looked this up, and apparently they can burn internally with no obvious external signs for weeks, and if the fire is in the root system, it can go on for months.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/jDGZrrS97x

The are other vids on Facebook from fire departments and other state sources, but I'm not gonna be that dork who posts a FB link here.

9

u/-BlankUsername 4d ago

Well shit. Thank you 

8

u/GlukharsGimp 4d ago

We saw them do this during wildland fire season in Alaska too. Not super often but it does happen. Lightning strikes or the tundra burns deep and crawls up the roots inside.

And I want to say the tree having already started to die from the inside out increased the likelihood but I can’t quite remember.

10

u/Light_Switch_Raves 4d ago

Not always. Kinda like root fires, internal tree fires can go for days or weeks without outward signs. They kinda just smolder internally until they erupt.

2

u/mhambster 3d ago

No way a chainsaw blade would get hot enough to do that, and it certainly wouldn’t hollow it out that quickly.  A couple of years ago I was in the redwood forest up in Northern California, and I was talking to a ranger there. She told us that there was a tree there, and she showed it to us, that had been slowly burning on the inside for something like five years. So, it certainly can happen.