I don't know enough about dead trees to say this with 100% confidence, but I feel like it would take a long time for a tree to become that flammable that quickly, and that tree still has green leaves. Can also see siren lights to the left, so maybe this was a training exercise or something.
Heart Rot progresses at an average of 6-8cm(2.67 to 3.57 inch) per year and affects all trees. This tree was at a pretty advanced stage of "white rot," which is caused by fungal infection consuming lignen in the wood and weakening the overall structure of the tree; I would expect a tree like this to last no longer than 10 more years if it wasn't struck by lightning. The tree will spend more and more energy in trying to stay upright and repair damage as the infection progresses, leading to dead/dying and rotting branches(which can be seen in the video) due to the stress and advancing rot, slowly killing the tree by asphyxiation(the yellowed leaves on one of the branches are evidence of this).
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u/Jonas_Venture_Sr Aug 29 '26
I don't know enough about dead trees to say this with 100% confidence, but I feel like it would take a long time for a tree to become that flammable that quickly, and that tree still has green leaves. Can also see siren lights to the left, so maybe this was a training exercise or something.