Flames that climbed a towering tree in Southeast Portland’s Laurelhurst Park early Thursday morning were extinguished within an hour.

But while this fire did not spread, Portland Fire & Rescue spokesperson Rick Graves said wind could have made things worse. He urged people to be cautious about open flame use as Oregon enters what could be a challenging fire season.

“We’re quick and we get after things aggressively and we didn’t have any wind,” Graves said. “We’re entering the season where it’s dry and we want to alert the community that we need to be aware of open flame use.”

The tree ignited one day after Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared “fire season is here,” and after a week in which numerous small fires sparked and then were extinguished in dry brush around the state.

Fire hoses were not able to reach the peak of the tree, and crews had to deploy other equipment to douse it in the 2,000 gallons of water it took to extinguish the flames.

The department does not plan to conduct an investigation, Graves said, but it’s possible that an inappropriately discarded cigarette butt or other smoking material led to the fire.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/08/portland-fire-laurelhurst-park-tree/