My engine company was called out to extinguish a tree fire in the middle of the night. Upon our arrival we indeed found a large oak tree involved in fire from bottom to top. As we stretched our trash line to extinguish the fire i stood about 15 ft. From the 50 ft tall tree and awaited water. As the line was charged and i opened the nozzle i looked up and the whole top of the tree was coming at me. I dove out of the way so fast i did not even close the nozzle. The impact of the burning tree burst our hoseline and sheared the bail off the nozzle. I was lucky on this incident, but also complacent. The collapse zone is not only for buildings!
