Dogwood hit by lightning

[rdoiron]

We had a lightning strike hit a big dogwood tree about 300 feet from our house. Hollowed out the tree and set the insides ablaze...kind of like a chimney fire. Called out the fire guys and they opted to cut it down and then to extinguish the tree center. I'm not sure what else could be done as this could have burned for days and spread. Even the constant rain downpour did nothing to put it out.

A quick little video of the event Burning trees the hard way. - YouTube

I did not get the tree falling as they made me stand well back out of video range.

 

[jinman]

Very interesting! Our oak trees seem to explode into thousands of pieces when hit. The expanding steam from the heartwood makes them go off like a bomb. I'm surprised your dogwood wasnt' the same. Perhaps it is softer or has a grain that can split open to relieve the pressure. I'd bet a $5 bill that those firemen have never trained in how to best put out a tree burning from the inside-out.

 

[rdoiron]

re Jinman, you'd win the $5. It was pouring rain and the trunk was very much on fire burning from the inside out. They had a brand new Husquavarna so the plan was to use it in the fire fighting effort. They did say that if left alone, the trunk would likely smoulder for days with periodic spurts of flames which would endanger the nearby forest.

The tree did explode with lots of giant toothpicks scattered in about a 100 foot circle. The most interested piece was imbedded into the hard ground at least 10 inches like a spear.

 

[jinman]

I can imagine that if the tree smouldered and weakened its structure, it could have fallen unexpectedly and maybe hurt somebody. Better to take it down when you can control it than let it fall when it's least expected.