A large old growth tree caught fire near a homeless camp in Stanley Park Sunday morning causing traffic delays and a challenging situation for firefighters.

Fire crews were called to the park at 9:30 a.m. where they found the hollow cedar tree on fire.

Vancouver Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Dan Wilson said the fire spread up inside the tree, which measures about 10 to 12 feet in circumference.

“Unfortunately this was a very large old growth tree with multiple void spaces. [The fire] travelled a good 20 to 30 feet up the tree so getting access to that with water was very difficult,” he said.

Fire crews battled the stubborn fire for several hours using various techniques.

“We used a piercing nozzle and pounded it into the centre core of the tree and that got us access to where the fire had been burning,” Wilson said. “If we can get the water into the top part of those void spaces it will all just trickle down with steam and water and eventually put everything out.”

Had it not been for the recent rains, Wilson said the situation could have been much worse.

“This could have been a really bad scenario if this had happened in July [or] August,” he said.

Traffic on Stanley Park Drive was disrupted until fire crews found a water hydrant closer to the tree inside the park. The tree was near a camp with various personal items and Wilson said these incidents are more common as the temperature drops.

“It’s a fall phenomenon. Weather gets cool, there’s a lot of homeless people in the park, they start lighting fires to keep warm and if they’re near trees, this happens,” he said.

Fires have happened several times in Stanley Park including one in another tree this month. In 2012 a fire occurred near the police stables and another arson destroyed the Stanley Park train.

John Coupar, the NPA Park Board Commissioner, is calling for new security measures.

“Maybe we’re at the point now where we need to step up security and surveillance and maybe even we need some infrared cameras or something around some of these facilities because it would be a terrible loss to lose any of them,” he said.

No one was at the scene when crews arrived and investigators could not determine what sparked the fire. The tree will likely be removed from the park.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Jon Woodward