a large tree makes contact with a section of power lines on a residential street in bellingham, washington. the branches start smoldering, then ignite. >> there goes the first piece of branch. >> the wind would gust and it would blow it into the power line. >> caleb skrtel lives across the street and starts recording the unusual event on his cell phone as his neighbors begin to gather and watch. >> holy! >> at that point, like we had already called the fire department. it seemed like most people were just kind of standing around, eyes to the sky. >> this is amazing. >> this is ridiculous. >> powerful jolts of electricity pulse through the tree, down to the ground, over and over again. >> i think it was like a 24,000 volt power line. i think that's what the energy company said. >> making matters worse, the wind pushes the large tree harder on to the surging power lines. >> now it's really heating up. >> looks further down, too. oh, my gosh! >> there's nothing the spectators can do as the fire moves down the center of the tree. >> i'm moving back a little bit. i can feel that. >> there's kin