Cottonwood trees can be quite large. They need lots of water, grow in riparian zones. Groves of mature Cottonwood trees can burn and yet most of the trees will still survive, but they will be damaged. Our cottonwood zone along the Yellowstone river was set afire more than once (kids from Billings 'playing'). When I was in high school, one evening, about 20 acres of trees out of ~ 40 acres on our farm, went up in flame. The whole town could see the fire. Flames shooting out of the top of trees. County and private fire hose trucks had trouble putting out upper limbs (couldn't reach with the water).
On this same farm where I grew up, one enormous tree that had been hit by lightning was hollow at the base, large enough to walk in and stand up straight, When we cut it down, the diameter was so large, that one could still walk a few feet into the base of the horizontal tree without bending over. Old, mature cottonwoods tend to have rot in the limbs, producing 'widow-makers'. We cut down over a dozen surrounding the farmhouse - old trees that were becoming a danger to everyone and the house.
One tree at the corner of the yard was huge and leaned toward the house Dad rounded up neighbors, their tractors, cables, and even a Dodge Power-Wagon with a winch to help ensure it fell in the right direction. We all had to leave the house when he cut it off. In the middle of the cut, the tree started leaning even more toward the house, dragging the tractors in a somewhat muddy field. Everyone stopped. They staked the Power-Wagon down, put all of the tractors in granny gear, before resuming the cut. With several large tractors and the Power Wagon, they eventually drug the tree over; everyone keeping fingers crossed. Lots of sighs of relief when that last tree fell away from the house.
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