One of the world's tallest trees is burning. Why can't firefighters put it out?

The Doerner Fir tree, one of the world’s tallest, caught fire and has sustained damage that could lower its global ranking.

The fire has not yet spread to the surrounding coastal Oregon wilderness but is proving difficult to extinguish.

When flames were spotted within one of the world’s tallest trees, firefighters flooded the area.

Drones, aircraft and hand crews worked for days to tame the fire, successfully stopping it from spreading across the dense forest that surrounds the famous Doerner Fir tree in Oregon’s Coast Range mountains.

But the towering Coast Douglas-fir has remained stubbornly alight.

And firefighters — at least at the moment — seem stumped.

“There’s still this spot where water is just not quite reaching yet,” said Megan Harper, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Lan