Fire in public palm garden

[Pivi]

Today a fire started in public palm garden where i live.

Most probably kids were playing with firecrackers and caused this fire.

Very old palms burned down... could easily happen for the whole public garden to burn because palms are planted close to each other.

[Pivi]

[Pivi]

[Pivi]

[Pivi]

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Horrific! I am sure most of those palms will survive. I think charred trunks look cool on desert palms...

[Borgy230]

I bet they all survive, arent these types of palms used to this? isnt it even healthy for them in some cases.

[PalmatierMeg]

How sad! Looks like a lot of Phoenix, maybe Washingtonias. We have a lot of dry season brush fires during dry season. Many native Sabals and Serenoas get scorched, sometimes badly, but most survive. Hope that's the case for your palms. They just may look scruffy for a while.

[Pivi]

I'm just affraid that people who don't know these things don't cut them down.

Are you sure there is a great chance for them to recover?

So i'll try to contact them to tell them...

[redbeard917]

It's a different species, but here are some Sabal palms that survived a fire. I agree that the palms in the park will live. It looks like it was a very nice park. I think they will recover quickly.

These were taken in St. Marks NWR.

[PalmGuyWC]

Pivi,

By all means contact the authorities and let them know the palms will probably survive. Most of the old Washingtonia filiferas in habitat in Calif. have fire scars on the trunks, and it's a natural process and cleans off the shag. The same is true for the Sabals growing in the Everglades in Fla.

Dick

[PalmGuyWC]

ReadBeard,

You beat me to the draw on the Sabals. Nice photographs. Pivi, those are great action photographs. You could probably have them published or sell them to a publication if you liked.

Dick

[Jeff Searle]

Wow, this isn't something you see in the city very often. But, like others mentioned, there's a very good chance that these palms will survive.

Jeff

[paulgila]

i agree,they will be fine.washies are hard to kill.next time try a bazooka.

[Pivi]

Thanks for your comments.

I will try to find and tell to adequate person that palms will most probably recover.

ps. dick, i did send some photos to news papers and i'll send a video to a tv channel.

[Bob Johnson]

Pivi,

Wow - that is a scary sight to see. Fortunately - as many have already mentioned - most of the palms should recover. it would be good idea to get that word to the powers that be in order to prevent the fire damaged palms from being cut down. You never know if the public officials over city parks now anything about palms and their unique qualities.

[DoomsDave]

Pivi!

Welcome to California!

Except it came to you. We deal with this all the time.

As Senor Snark suggests, snarkily, "next time try a bazooka" on those Washies.

The Phoenix too.

Palm trunks are basically vertical water tanks with fibers in them, and they're TOUGH to burn. Leaves, no big deal.

Those palms should be looking much better in six months, if a little blackened on the edges.

[Pivi]

Thanks Dave and Bob!

Like i said, i'll contact someone from local authorities and pass the information.

[DoomsDave]

aND BE READY WITH YOUR CAMERA.

Or, if you want, have city officials contact us.

DON'T LET THEM DESTROY THE PALMS BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY'RE DEAD!

('Scuse me while I scream and run out the door, albeit fully clothed . . . . .)

[Pivi]

Ok dave.

[Gileno Machado]

Unbelievable how the washies burn fast...the whole crown !!

Coconuts down here don't seem to behave this way...I've seen bigger fires in sugar cane here and the youngest cocos fronds above don't burn at all...

When was the last rain you had in your town, Pivi? Are you in a very dry season at the moment?

[Pivi]

No, we're now in the wet season. Last rain was ( i can't remember exactly) i think saturday afternoon.

[_Keith]

One of my neighbors had another neighbor accidentally fire up a couple of his washies. These were 50 footers and the burned all the way to the top. Now 2 years later,the danged things never looked better. I think they actually benefitted.

[southlatropical]

So, if you want to trim those washies, and they are too tall...................just light em' up.

[Pivi]

wow

[Kostas]

I am very sorry to hear that Pivi Fires are always very sad...

I bet they will all survive though too In the recent forest fires we had in Greece,many large palms(Phoenix canariensis and P. dactylifera along with Washingtonia robusta and W. filifera...)in private properties were in the road of the fire and got burned...But,going there some months later,they were all alive and well,catching up with the old canopy damage and having regained a good deal of their canopy, and the only thing that reminded of the fire were their black trunks...

Good idea to contact them to inform them about that as many people arent aware of the great fire surviving capabilities of temperate palms...You can also accompany the pictures you sent to newspapers and the video you will be sending to tv channel with the comment that these palms will survive and resume growth and should not be cut down as dead

Edited December 9, 2008 by Kostas

[rozpalm]

My money would be on most of these palms surviving. One of the state parks that we go 4wheeling in does controlled burns all the time and the Sabals come back looking great. Here are a couple of pictures of some Sabals approx 3 weeks after a controlled burn. I would be willing to bet the Washy's are as strong as the Sabals.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

I read somewhere (If I recall correctly) that the Sabal palmetto which routinely burns in Floridia is able to withstand blazes of some rediculous number like 2600 degrees F before it actually secumbs to the fires... It the washies in pivis photos are more robusta than filfera they will probably take serious heat like that as well... Wonder bout Phoenixes? Hypothesis - more junk in trunk equals less stress from the heat?

[DoomsDave]

So, if you want to trim those washies, and they are too tall...................just light em' up.

Hope you're joking!

Because, no, I wouldn't.

Those dead leaves burn FURIOUSLY, they make the best tinder for your fireplace. Even when they're a little wet. Incredible.

They also set buildings and other plants on fire, which is one of the reasons brushfires raise such hell out here, because of the dead washie leaves.

[southlatropical]

Only joking of course. I bet tall ones with long skirts burn quick.

[gsn]

Pivi,

Like most have said I would be surprised if any of those palms die from the fire.

They do controlled burns here all the time,and the sabals and serenoa repens, actually look better a year after the burns!

[osideterry]

Kris will not enjoy this thread...

[Ken Johnson]

Washies on fire are real nasty. They usually have plenty of fuel hanging on them! They WILL grow back!

Don't try this at home. I saw where one guy lit his palm to clean it and almost burned down his house!

[DoomsDave]

Washies on fire are real nasty. They usually have plenty of fuel hanging on them! They WILL grow back!

Don't try this at home. I saw where one guy lit his palm to clean it and almost burned down his house!

Try lighting a couple of dead Washie leaves on fire.

Stand back!

Those [oedipal expletives] roar like a freight train when they burn, and they're HOT.

Don't do this in the middle of the living room rug . . . . .

:floor: :floor: :floor:

[Dave-Vero]

Wild Washingtonias survive fire pretty well. There should be some reports in the scientific literature on the long-term effects of such fires (which usually are caused by people).

I don't know anything about fire resistance in Phoenix, but the Mediterranean is a fire-prone region, just like California.

In Florida, Sabal palmetto tolerates fire, and individuals will survive repeated burnings. This enables them to persist in areas with occasional fires.

A miniature trunkless palm, Sabal etonia also tolerates occasional fires; it's common in scrub vegetation (similar to California chaparral) that burns every five to fifteen years.

Serenoa repens, the saw palmetto, is extraordinarily fire tolerant, sending up fresh leaves almost immediately, so its stems often cover the ground in pine flatwoods (grassy or shrubby fire-pruned vegetation with tall longleaf or slash pines). Fires historically occurred (or were set) almost annually. It also inhabits beach scrub, which burns a bit less frequently. This extraordinarily abundant species would probably grow well in Croatia, although it's accustomed to dry winters and wet summers, the opposite of Croatia's rainfall regime.

The truly tropical palms of the Florida Keys pinelands are also very fire tolerant. Coccothrinax argentata in particular.

[_Keith]

So, if you want to trim those washies, and they are too tall...................just light em' up.

Actually, my neighbor's trick was to first light up a couple hundred square feet of frozen back bananas and that lit up the washies. Looking back it was the funniest damn thing, but it could just as easily been diasterous. I saw the action starting up from a couple hundred yards away. The homeowners were not at home. I and another neighbor ran over to help the accidental fire starter. We were dipping 5 gallon buckets into the pool and running around trying to put the mess out. Took a half hour to get things under control.

[Kris]

Kris will not enjoy this thread...

You are right terry,more than the washies the Cidp burning visuals were not funny...

But Peter,those stills are mindblowingly live.. Great work !

Kris

[BigFrond]

That's just like trimming them. The fire burn should not affect the washies or canaries. However, I think the washies are near their terminal stage. Here in SoCal, many are replaced once they reach that size.

[phatmiata]

great pics, those puppies burn fast !!!

[merrill]

After a 10F freeze, I needed to trim dead frozen foliage off three trunks of Phoenix reclinata X P. canariensis. They were lit off, produced a unbelievably spectacular fire and left no petioles after burning less than 2 minutes. They had much more foliage than Washingtonia. They grew w/o incident in the spring. This fire saved much time and labor!

merrill