Sequoia National Park: KNP complex fire reaches part of giant forest

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(CNN) – The KNP complex fire in California reached a “small area” of the giant forest of Sequoia National Park, which is home to some of the tallest trees in the world, according to fire officials.

The blaze, which burned 21,777 acres, reached the Four Guards area, where officials have spent the past few days preparing trees for the fire threat, according to an update Saturday on InciWeb, a center of national exchange of information on forest fires.
The base of the General Sherman tree, the world’s largest by volume, had been wrapped in an aluminum-based burn-resistant material. But the tree was not affected by the fire on Saturday, according to the update.

The KNP complex fire was 0% contained on Saturday. Firefighters expected winds to pick up in the area on Sunday, triggering a red flag warning that will remain in effect throughout the day.

“Crews are bracing for changes and possible significant increases in fire activity,” the update said on Saturday.

According to the National Park Service, 416 people across 10 teams are battling the blaze, which initially consisted of three separate fires started by lightning earlier this month. One of them was 100% content, but two – the Paradise Fire and the Colony Fire – merged on Friday and will now be considered one fire, per InciWeb.

Last year, between 7,500 and 10,600 mature giant sequoias were destroyed in the castle fire – about 10-14% of the world’s mature sequoias population – according to a National Park Service report released in June.

Authorities last week worked to ease the handling of the blaze. But this time around, the wildfire is burning in places where the National Park Service has no history of fire, a park official told CNN, which means there is a lot of bloom that could fuel the burn.

“We basically told the fire crews to treat all of our special redwoods as if they were buildings and wrap them all up, pick up all the rubbish and roll the heavy logs,” said Christy Brigham, chief management officer. resources and science for the Sequoia. and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Jon Passantino, Deanna Hackney, Stephanie Elam, Christina Maxouris and Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this report.

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