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California wildfires hit giant sequoias: trying to protect them

2021-09-20T03:59:56.611Z


This Saturday the National Weather Service issued an alert due to the critical conditions of the fire in the California national park, because the flames have not been controlled and continue to affect the huge trees.


The National Weather Service issued an alert Saturday for critical fire conditions in California's Sequoia National Park,

where two fires caused by lightning merged on Friday and continued to advance into the forest. 

The fire reached the western end of the Forest of the Giants, where it burned four

redwoods known as the 'Four Guardians' that protect the road into the 2,000 redwood forest.

The extent of fire damage to trees has yet to be determined.

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Firefighters have wrapped the base of General Sherman and other trees in the Forest of the Giants with a fire-resistant aluminum blanket of the type used in forest firefighter emergency shelters and to protect historic wooden buildings, the spokeswoman said. firefighters Katy Hooper.

General Sherman is the largest tree in the world

by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters), according to the National Park Service.

It stands 275 feet (84 meters) tall and has a circumference of 103 feet (31 meters) at ground level.

[Thousands of people are forced to flee Lake Tahoe as the Caldor fire spreads in California]

Firefighters wrap the historic General Sherman tree, estimated to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old, in fireproof blankets in Sequoia National Park on Thursday.National Park Service via AFP - Getty Images

The fires, collectively known as the KNP Complex, have burned 28 square miles (72 square kilometers) of forest land.

The low smoke that had choked the air and limited the growth of the fire in recent days lifted

, and gusts of wind increased activity especially near the Forest of the Giants, Hooper said.

The flames scared off firefighters who were wrapping redwoods in aluminum and clearing vegetation on the forest floor, which could allow the intense fire to creep closer to the trees, Hooper said.

A crew of firefighters was assessing the conditions of the 'Four Guardians' on Saturday morning to determine if firefighters can safely return and continue work, it added.

The fires forced the park to be evacuated this week, as well as parts of

Three Rivers

, a hilltop community of about 2,500 residents outside the park's main entrance.

Crews have been digging a line between the fire and the community.

Sequoia trees in Lost Grove along Generals Highway as the KNP complex burns about 15 miles away on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.AP / Noah Berger

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning until Sunday, saying some gusts and lower humidity could create conditions for the rapid spread of the fire.

Fire officials weren't expecting the kind of wind-driven growth that in recent months turned

the Sierra Nevada fires into monsters that devoured hundreds of homes.

["Everything is gone": speak those affected in California by the monstrous Dixie fire]

Giant sequoias are adapted to fire, which can aid their development, releasing seeds from their cones and creating gaps that allow young sequoia to grow. 

But these fires are of extraordinary intensity

that, fueled by climate change, can overwhelm trees.

"Once the fire burns inside the tree, death occurs," said Jon Wallace, chief of the operations section of the KNP Complex.

The fires have already burned several sections with trees up to 61 meters tall and 2,000 years old.

To the south, the Windy fire grew to 50 square kilometers in the Tule River Preserve and Giant Sequoia National Monument, where it has burned the Peyrone redwood forest and threatens others.

[More than 200 people caught in a fire near a reservoir in California are rescued by helicopter]

The fire has also reached Long Meadow Grove, where two decades ago then-President Clinton signed a proclamation establishing the 100 Giant Redwood Trail as a national monument.

Those in charge of responding to the emergency have not yet been able to determine the extent of the damage caused to the forests, which are in remote and difficult-to-access areas. 

According to the National Park Service, the Castle Fire last year killed between 7,500 and 10,600 redwoods.

This is estimated to have accounted for 10-14% of all redwoods in the world.

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The historic drought linked to climate change is making wildfires more difficult to fight.

In California alone, millions of trees have died.

Scientists say climate change has made the West much hotter and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make more extreme weather and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

This year, more than 7,000 California wildfires have damaged or destroyed more than 3,000 homes and other buildings and burned more than 7,770 square kilometers of land, according to the California Department of Forests and Fire Protection.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-09-20

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