On Arbor Day, Bel Aire gives firefighters a seedling from OKC Survivor Tree

Bel Aire officials donated to a young American elm grown from a tree that survived the Oklahoma City bombing to a local fire department.

“We are dedicating this young tree in honor of the men and women of the Sedgwick County Fire Department,” Gary Northwall of the Bel Aire Tree Board said at a Friday dedication ceremony.

In April 1995, an explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people in one of the worst terrorist attacks in American history. A tree in a parking lot across the street from the building was impaled with shrapnel and was scheduled to be cut down for evidence.

But the tree began growing new leaves, showing it was still alive. It’s known as the Survivor Tree and has become a symbol of the city’s resilience after the attack.

Limited numbers of seedlings from the Survivor Tree are given out.

Members of the Bel Aire Tree Board attended memorial services in 2012 and received some of these seedlings.

The 5-year-old American elm sapling planted at the Fire District’s Station 37 on Woodlawn near K-96 was the last sapling from those collected in 2012.

“Catastrophes can be overcome,” said Guy MacDonald, the Bel Aire City Council’s president. “The city of Bel Aire and its tree board dedicate this tree to Sedgwick County firefighters, who daily risk their lives to save the lives and property of local residents from fire or other catastrophic events.”

MacDonald said they’ve donated other young trees to Greensburg and Joplin, Mo., places ravaged by tornadoes over the past decade.

“The tree board decided that any survivor tree seedlings that we obtain and raise will be donated to cities or towns or individuals who have suffered a catastrophic loss,” MacDonald said. “It’s a nice idea, and it seems to be working.”

County officials and firefighters attended the ceremony.

“We’re going to take good care of it, I promise you that,” said Tavis Leake, the district’s fire chief.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 2:04 PM with the headline "On Arbor Day, Bel Aire gives firefighters a seedling from OKC Survivor Tree."