This scientific commentary refers to `Stem heating results in hydraulic dysfunction in Symplocos tinctoria: implications for post-fire tree death' by Hoffmann et al. (https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpae023).

How does fire kill trees? This is a fundamental question to which we surprisingly do not have the answer. The capacity to predict when and where trees will die due to fire is important for addressing a range of applied research problems, such as modelling fire effects on vegetation and dependent fauna, carbon emissions and modelling future fire regimes. As fire regimes continue to change due to climate change and other anthropogenic factors (Jones et al. 2022), gaps in our understanding of how trees respond to fire and other stressors are laid bare.