SAN ANTONIO – A giant oak tree near the Salado Creek Greenway is now at risk for damage after a fire broke out inside the tree, according to San Antonio Parks and Recreation officials.
The discovery was made Saturday when San Antonio Firefighters responded to the 3400 block of Nacogdoches Road for a reported brush fire.
When firefighters arrived, they found the inside of the tree on fire.
Officials with the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department were then called out to help give advice on how best to put out the fire, in order to keep the tree safe.
Fire crews worked for a few hours to put out the flames. Park officials will return later to assess the damage.
“The next steps will be to just make sure to give anything that the tree needs, to be able to help with any additional resources, like water, anything like that, that we can do for the tree; and then we’ll also be assessing for its structural stability. It’s fairly close to the Greenway Trail, so we just want to make sure that the fire hasn’t caused any structural damage that’s gonna cause the tree to fall,” Ross Hosea, Urban Forestry manager with Parks and Recreation said.
The park official said the giant oak tree is at least 100 years old and has a double trunk.