A fire is burning in one of the world’s tallest trees. It may lower the tree’s standing in global height rankings.

Portland, Ore. — Authorities in Oregon are trying to extinguish a fire burning in one of the world’s tallest trees, near the state’s southern coast.

The Doerner Fir, a coastal Douglas Fir tree over 325 feet tall and estimated to be over 450 years old, has been burning since Saturday in Coos County in Oregon’s Coast Range. An infrared drone flight on Tuesday showed no active flames or smoke at the top of the tree, but it detected heat within a cavity in the tree’s trunk some 280 feet up, federal Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Megan Harper said.

Figuring out how to approach the tree from the side to douse the cavity with water has been a challenge, Harper said. 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.

The fire may impact the tree’s standing in global height rankings, Harper said.

“We’ve lost about 50 feet of it, just from fire and pieces falling out,” she said, noting that the 50 feet were lost through the top burning. “So I don’t know where it’ll stand after this, but it’s still a magnificent tree.”

A fire is burning in one of the world’s tallest trees. It may lower the tree’s standing in global height rankings. – CBS News

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