Conifer trees typically have vertical stems and horizontal branches. During the fire, intense heat rose from the forest floor, drying the needles, leaves, and limbs high in the canopy where fire did not reach. The property of wood differs between the tops and bottoms of limbs to support their load of needles, so loss of needles and drying of the wood caused conifer branches to curl inward and upward in atypical fashion. During the height of the pandemic it was easy to sense this as a form of self-embrace.