Tree damage is more than just physical damage after striking with something or getting affected by the weather. There are a lot of other ways by which a tree can get damaged and one of them is fire. In many cases, you can’t save a fire-damaged tree. That’s why calling in tree cutting services is the only option. However, sometimes, the tree can be saved. If you want to know how to deal with fire-damaged trees, here is a complete guide.

How Do Trees Catch Fire?

It might seem pretty rare, but in reality, trees are one of the easiest things that can catch fire. Think of all of the forest fires – they don’t even need an accelerant when wood surrounds as far as the eye can see.
Trees are not naturally fire-insulating, so it’s only a matter of time and a hike in the temperature that it can catch fire and cause damage of epic proportions. This is why it’s important to know how fire can cause tree damage.

Here are some of the things that can cause tree damage:

• Lightning storms, especially when the bolts strike the tree
• Intense summers and no ventilation, like dense forests
• Having trees in the vicinity of a flammable source, like certain chemicals, and the list goes on

Fire is a really simple concept, but the damage it does to a tree is anything but small. There are lots of trees that have succumbed to the dangers of fire, just because the fire was too intense and nothing could be done to save them from the damage.

Speaking of damage, here are some of the most common things you’ll see after a tree catches fire:

• Burnt trunks and barks – they will be charcoal black
• There might be peeling on the trunk of the tree
• No fruits or flowers, especially if the roots and the branches were affected by the fire
• Scorching of the leaves
• Soil degradation and its inability to promote nutrient supply

So, by this point, you know that fires and trees don’t go together at all. The damage is intense and the reversal depends solely on the fire and its impact. So, dealing with a fire-damaged tree is daunting, but crucial.

Dealing With A Fire-Damage Tree

Now that you know how trees catch fire – which is pretty easy, by the way – and how fire can affect the tree, here are all of the things you can try to save and protect the tree from further damage and future fires if the fire has left anything worth saving.

Water The Tree

First things first, after extinguishing the fire, whether by yourself or the fire snuffing out naturally, you need to rehydrate the tree. Take yourself as an instance. You can get a serious burn on the skin because of fire, the topmost exposed layer of your skin will be severely dehydrated and it will be stretched and taut.

Well, the same can happen with a tree and it can leave the tree feeling very brittle and the trunk will be extremely dry. This is why you want to water the tree to bring back the nourishment so that the tree can be brought back to health.

Assess The Tree For Damage

This is probably one of the first things you want to do after your tree has gotten damaged by a fire. You want to call in a professional to have the tree assessed for damage. A professional is necessary only if you’re new to trees and don’t know much about them.

However, if you’re confident and have a green thumb, then this is something your practiced eye can see too. But the main gist is that you want to see how badly and deeply the tree is damaged. Did the fire only burn the tree exterior or is the damage more than what meets the eye? You can hire arborist services Chevy Chase for tree inspection.

Protect From Further Damage

Just like how your skin can get sunburned when it is sensitive, the same can happen with the trees as well. After they have been exposed to fire and are severely damaged, you need to protect the tree from direct sunlight. You can’t just pluck the tree out and take it indoors or cover it in layers of sunscreen, now, can you?

Well, the idea of protecting the tree from the sun is to cover the trunk and other burnt parts of it with cardboard, a light-colored cloth, or even a tree wrap. This needs to be done for about a year, and it will give the tree enough time to recuperate and heal on its own.

Prune The Burnt Parts

Well, after the tree has been damaged by the fire, there is something you can do to make the restoration process easier and that is to prune the burnt parts of the tree. When you look at a fire-damaged tree, it will be easy to see what part of it needs pruning.

You want to get rid of burnt, wonky, leaning, and just dead and peeled parts of the tree, especially the bark, the branches, and the trunk.

Pests Can Be An Issue

After a fire, your tree will be highly susceptible to damage, especially when it comes to pests and other insects taking advantage of the tree’s declined health. So, on top of protecting the tree from the sun, you also need to ensure that you’re properly treating it with pesticides.

Make sure to use gentle and safe pesticides because these are chemicals at the end of the day, and you don’t want to damage your tree further while trying to protect it. It may just backfire on you in the worst way. Regardless, pest control and protection is imperative.

It Needs Fertilizer

After fire damage, your tree might need a bit of help when it comes to getting back to health. One of the most important parts of the tree is the roots and those are passageways that take nutrients from the soil and take it to every single part of the tree.

Well, if the roots as well as the soil are not as fertilized, then the damaged tree will have a hard time fetching the much-needed nutrients. This is why fertilizing the tree is crucial. This will give the tree a good and abundant source to take nutrients from and it will turn around for the better.

Remove The Tree

Sometimes, you can save a tree after it’s been damaged by something serious like a fire, but other times, you just can’t do anything and the tree that once stood tall and gave you shade and oxygen, can turn into a falling hazard.

This is why it’s important that you consult with a tree removal specialist and they will determine whether it’s better to have the tree removed or not. If the damage is beyond a certain point and the tree can’t be nursed back to health, then it may fall down at one point or another.

Conclusion

Fire damage is one of the more serious damages that a tree can endure. So, you must know how to protect your tree and save it from the point of no return. However, if it’s severely damaged, get help from emergency tree services Potomac for cutting down the tree.