The Washburn Fire burns in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
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Noah Berger / AP
The Washburn Fire burns in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
YOSEMITE COUNTRY PARK, California – The largest giant Sequoias grove in Yosemite National Park was closed Friday and hundreds of people ordered evacuations nearby as wildfires burned through the dense forest. became the latest wildfire in recent years to threaten the world’s largest trees.
Nancy Phillipe, a spokeswoman for Yosemite, said a research team is being sent to Mariposa Grove to wrap some of the giant tree trunks in fireproof foil to protect them when the fire burns out of control.
More than 500 adult Sequoias are threatened but there have been no reports of serious damage to any of the named trees, such as the 3,000-year-old Grizzly Giant.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and the rest of the park remains open as nearly 300 firefighters try to control the blaze with the help of two helicopters dropping water and an oil tanker dumping fire retardants. Phillip said.
Giant sequoias, which originate in just about 70 groves of trees spread along the western slopes of California’s Sierra Nevada range, were once considered flame impervious but have become increasingly vulnerable as wildfires are fueled by The accumulation of trees from a century of extinguishing fires and droughts exacerbated by climate change is becoming increasingly severe and destructive.
Forest fires caused by lightning strikes in the past two years have killed up to a fifth of the estimated 75,000 large Seias trees, the largest by volume.
Phillipe said there were no obvious natural sparks for the blaze that broke out Thursday next to the park’s Washburn Trail. Smoke was reported by visitors walking in the woods that reopened in 2018 after a three-year $40 million renovation.
A firefighter protects a Sequoia tree as the Washburn Fire burns in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
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A firefighter protects a Sequoia tree as the Washburn Fire burns in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
The forest, located inside the south entrance of the park, was evacuated and no one was injured.
Authorities said the fire had spread to 466 acres (188 hectares) on Friday night.
Evacuation orders were issued Friday for the forest along with the nearby community of Wawona – which is surrounded by the park – and the Wawona Campground, where between 600 and 700 people are staying at a campsite, cabins and a historic hotel.
A fierce windstorm tore through the forest a year and a half ago and toppled 15 giant Sequoias trees, along with countless other trees.
The felled trees, along with the large number of pines killed by bark beetles, provided a lot of fuel for the fire, but Friday’s wind was mild and the fire did not spread quickly.
The park used prescribed burn medications to clear the weeds around the Sequoias trees, helping to protect them should the fire spread further into the forest.
As seen from Oakhurst in Madera County, California, a fire rises from the Washburn Fire burning in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
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As seen from Oakhurst in Madera County, California, a fire rises from the Washburn Fire burning in Yosemite National Park on Friday.
Noah Berger / AP
“When unwanted fires happen in those areas, it tends to slow the rate of spread and give us some control,” said Phillipe.
In the Sierra foothills, 80 miles (128 km) northwest of the Yosemite fires, some evacuation orders were lifted as containment was increased to 70% for the Electra Fire that burned 7 square miles. 18 square kilometers).
The fire broke out near Jackson on Monday and temporarily forced about 100 people celebrating the 4th of July holiday along a river to seek shelter in a Pacific Gas & Electric Co facility.
