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The KNP Complex wildfire raging inside the Sequoia National Forest has grown in a grove of some of California’s most famous and beloved trees.
Flames have been spotted in the Giant Forest, a grove that contains the four guards and the General Sherman tree, which is the largest tree on the planet by volume. Fire crews on Friday wrapped as many trees as possible in flame-retardant aluminum blankets before high winds forced them to leave the area. Over 2,000 ancient trees live in the grove.
This photo, provided by the South Zone Blue Incident Management Team on Thursday, September 17, 2021, shows the giant sequoia known as the General Sherman Tree with its base wrapped in a fire retardant blanket to protect it from the intense heat of the approaching forest fires. in the Sequoia National Forest in California. (South Zone Blue Incident Management Team via AP)
Associated press“Once the fire burns inside the tree, it will lead to mortality,” said Jon Wallace, head of the operations section of the KNP complex.
The fire started on September 10, triggered by lightning. High winds blew up the blaze on Friday, which rose from less than 18,000 acres on Saturday to 21,777 acres on Sunday morning. There is no containment.
“The fire reached a small area of the giant forest [Friday], in the area known as the Four Guardsmen, where the trees had been carefully prepared in recent days, ”Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks said in an incident report on Saturday. “General Sherman Tree did not see a fire yesterday. Hotshot crews are evaluating the field this morning to verify if conditions are stable enough for more crews to re-engage in this area. “
The General Sherman Tree has lived and watched over thousands of years of California history. It is believed to be at least 2,300 years old. Although it is not the tallest tree in the world, it is the tallest if you calculate its volume. According to the National Park Service, the tree is 275 feet tall and over 36 feet in diameter.
A red flag warning is in effect Sunday for more wind gusts. Fire crews hope their flashbacks near the giant forest on the Generals Highway will help burn some of the vegetation and create a protective barrier around the grove. They are also working on a bulldozer line around the community of Three Rivers, which was evacuated earlier in the week.
Giant sequoias are adapted to fire, which can help them thrive by releasing seeds from their cones and creating clearings that allow young sequoias to thrive. But the extraordinary intensity of fires – fueled by climate change – can overwhelm trees. To the south, the Windy Fire has reached 19 square miles in the Tule River Indian Reservation and Giant Sequoias National Monument, where it burned the Peyrone Redwood Grove and threatened others.
The fire had also reached Long Meadow Grove, where two decades ago then President Clinton signed a proclamation establishing his 100 Giant Sequoias Trail as a national monument.
A gate is closed near the entrance to Sequoia National Park, where the KNP complex fire threatens groves of giant redwoods on Friday, September 17, 2021.
Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty ImageFirefighters have not yet been able to determine the extent of damage to the groves, which are in remote and hard-to-reach areas. They said the crews “were doing everything they could” to protect the trail by removing needles, leaves and other combustibles around the base of the trees.
Last year, the castle fire killed an estimated 7,500 to 10,600 large sequoias, according to the National Park Service. This represented about 10% to 14% of all redwoods in the world.
A plume of smoke and flames rise in the air as fire burns towards Moro Rock during the KNP Complex fire in Sequoia National Park near Three Rivers, Calif., September 18, 2021.
PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty ImagesHistoric drought related to climate change makes forest fires more difficult to fight. He killed millions of trees in California alone. Scientists say climate change has made the West much hotter and drier over the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and forest fires more frequent and destructive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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