Three charred palm trees remain in front of a home nearly burned by the Creelman fire on Wednesday, a reminder of the danger they pose when they go untrimmed or catch on fire. Retired fire captain Bob Lyon says the incident is a reminder of why trimming palm trees during fire season is critical.Lyon said certain varieties of palm trees are especially vulnerable to catching fire."Some of the Spanish ones that have the fronds that go all the way up ... those are susceptible to fire embers getting into those, and it will get going, and then the whole tree goes off because it's really dry," Lyon said.Lyon said an untrimmed palm tree can quickly become an extreme danger."Some of them are 30 or 40 feet tall, so you'll get a 30 or 40-foot flame going straight into the air," Lyon said.The fibers in burning fronds can turn into large chunks of embers that travel significant distances, spawning new fires far from the original source and putting firefighters at risk."They'll fly up to a half mile or more.
Firefighters are very cognizant of that because you could be fighting a fire in an area like this, but you go over there, and there's another fire... those fires can get going, and those fires can trap firefighters," Lyon said.Many homes in Ramona are built with fire-resistant materials like stucco and tile roofs. However, Lyon said that construction does not make them immune to the threat posed by burning palm trees.
Embers from burning trees can be sucked into the eaves of homes, triggering attic fires."In the attic there's really nothing up there except wood and insulation," Lyon said.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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