Auburn man arrested after Toomer’s Corner tree set on fire

Auburn’s highly celebrated victory over LSU Saturday evening, spilled over to Toomer’s Corner, where one of the newly planted oak trees was set on fire.

He was sentenced to 6 months in jail and credited with 104 days for time already served. Auburn police later arrested 29-year-old Jochen Wiest on charges of desecration of a vulnerable object. The original oak tree was poisoned in 2010 and removed in 2013.

Last night’s 18-13 win over LSU was Auburn’s second in the last three years. The university planted the new 35-foot tall oaks in February 2015 from a SC nursery.

“The fire melted the vertical (irrigation) piping that runs up the trunk”, Keever said.

“Based on the initial appearance of the tree, I don’t think the fire has killed the tree”, Keever said in an email to The Auburn Plainsman.

Surveillance footage obtained by AL.com appears to show a person in dark clothes walk up to the toilet paper and light it on fire. “We may not know for weeks the extent of the damage, depending on how the tree responds”. Somehow, during the celebration, one of the trees was set on fire and went up in a blaze as the toilet paper burned. Firefighters extinguished the burning tree and Auburn fans later re-rolled it once the flames had been doused. The Battalion Chief Dow Sport told the OA News that the crew spent 30 minutes on the scene and there were no injuries.