Any ideas. Only tree out of many. First time it’s done this.
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Looks nasty 
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Looks like blight to me. A bunch of his on spurs. I get a handful and just snip them off. (Be mindful of tool/orchard sanitation if you do)
Making big cuts can be terrifying but do what you must and the tree will most likely grow hard next season.
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Fireblight is not transferred by cutting tools.
If that’s the case consider me overly cautious. I treat it as if it were radioactive every time I deal with it. Clean my tools with rubbing alcohol prior to each cut and all clippings go straight into a good hot fire.
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Cleaning a tool/pruner between cut is a good general practice. I believe I got apple mosaic virus from a scion exchange.
I helped spread it to other apple trees because I did not clean my pruner, in between cut, or in between trees. Tough lesson to learn.
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I definitely clean my tools, if only to remove pitch. But as for the fireblight I did not want the OP to fear they had spread it to other trees.
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True. It can be a scary thing. I remember cutting the top half of, what I think will be my favorite, apple. It was the first year that it bloomed too so it was extra depressing. This year it looks a lot better for it. No blooms so you don’t get the time back but in the long run it was for the best.
Do you have a picture of your tree, @busch83 ? I did that this spring to my Horse apple. It had a fireblight strike on a spur on the main trunk. I learned too late not to let those stay. So far the remainder of my tree looks healthy, leaves are green, but they seem to be all fruiting spurs and aren’t putting out anything that looks like a leader. Not sure what to do in that case.
Here is the thread from when I had it hit: Airlie Disease ID
I apparently haven’t taken any recent pictures of it. I’ll try to snap a few later today.
When you cut them pay attention to the orientation of the last bud even if you have to cut a lot more. You want that branch to start growing in the right direction. If you don’t pay attention and the terminal bud ends up pointing inward you are not going to like how the tree is going to develop.
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i always dunk traded scions in peroxide and let it dry before using it, you never know what things are living on branches from away.
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I learned it a couple of years too late 
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It will need some tending come winter but for now I’m just pinching off the growth that I want to discourage. You can still see the old leader canted off to the right. I need to pick a good time to cut that down to its final length. Anybody have a suggestion on when that should be done to minimize wound exposure and still give it time to heal?
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I’m trying to avoid varieties that are prone to fireblight. Can you tell us the variety of this tree? Sorry if I missed it.
This one is Airlie Red Flesh. I had small hits on my Redlove Era and a good bit more on my Granny Smith in the same year. I also have a Chestnut Crab and Honeycrisp which didn’t suffer at all. I’m impressed with the Chestnut’s resilience.
This year I grafted Arkansas Black and Black Twig onto root stock to see how they handle. Next year I’m picking up a Franklin Cider due to its purported resilience.
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I believe it’s Fireblight on apple.
Are you sure?
From the text, “Fireblight can be spread from diseased to healthy plants by rain, wind, and pruning tools.”
University of Utah and many others agree. Fire Blight (Erwinia amylovora) | USU
I believe the trick is to prune well below the infection when possible.
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