It took less than 15 minutes. That's what people attending the annual ad hoc Christmas Tree burning on Alki beach said.

On Saturday evening, people brought a large number of their former holiday trees to the beach forming a pile 12 feet tall and 15 feet wide. 

But even a pile that big went fast. 

A few did some impromptu fire dancing too.

The Seattle Fire Department did drive by briefly but there was no issue, even though it's not officially legal to burn on the beach outside of the authorized fire pits.

Not announced but organized by social media the event has taken place for years, on different days, following the holidays similar in some ways to the annual new year's day plunge, as a way to release things that no longer serve.