FireBlight

Fireblight is most commonly found in fruit trees (prunus/pyrus species).  Pear trees are some of the most commonly planted trees in suburban landscape and if you start to see a few brown branches you should be aware.  Fireblight is a bacterium that kills leaves and branches and is very hard to control.  The best practice is to remove fireblight infected branched about a foot past the damage and to disinfect your tools between each cut so that you are not spreading the disease.  You can see the blackened dying branches, usually with a "shepherd's cane" look, so make sure you cut significantly past the furthest dead point. There aren’t many good applications used for controlling fireblight. Copper based products can help when trees are in bloom to protect the bloom from being infected.  These must be done every 4 days to ensure coverage of new blooms throughout the blooming period.  But an application only helps prevent spreading fireblight, it doesn’t remove the bacteria from the trunk and branches.