California fires imperil groves of giant sequoias

THREE RIVERS, Calif. — California wildfires have burned into at least four groves of gigantic ancient sequoias in national parks and forests, though cooler weather on Friday helped crews trying to keep the flames away from a famous cluster containing the world’s largest tree.

The fires lapped into the groves with trees that can be up to 200 feet tall and 2,000 years old, including Oriole Lake Grove in Sequoia National Park and Peyrone North and South groves in the neighboring Sequoia National Forest.

The fire also had reached the forest’s Long Meadow Grove, where then-President Bill Clinton signed a proclamation two decades ago establishing a national monument. Fire officials haven’t yet been able to determine how much damage was done to the groves, which are in remote, hard-to-reach areas.

“These groves are just as impressive and just as ecologically important to the forest. They just aren’t as wellknown,” Tim Borden, sequoia restoration and stewardship manager for the Save the Redwoods League, told the Bay Area News Group. “My heart sinks when I think about it.”

Firefighters have placed a fire-resistant aluminum wrapping around the base of the General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest by volume at 52,508 cubic feet, as well as some other trees and buildings.

The material can withstand intensive heat for short periods and has been used in national parks and forests throughout the West for several years to protect sensitive structures from flames.

A major element of the park grove’s defense is decades of prescribed burns — fires intentionally set to clear the forest floor of vegetation that could feed bigger blazes — and thinning projects to remove small trees that could become ladders carrying fire up to the crowns of the giants.

A fire in the region last year killed thousands of sequoias, which grow as tall as high-rises at certain elevations on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

“This is a beautiful, open, park-like forest,” fire spokesman Mark Garrett said.

But a historic drought tied to climate change is making wildfires harder to fight. Scientists say climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Lightning ignited two fires in the park on Sept. 9, officials said. The Colony Fire, closest to the Giant Forest, has grown to just under 5 square miles. The Paradise Fire has scorched nearly 13 square miles.

More than 400 firefighters were assigned to the blazes, which are being collectively managed as the KNP Complex. More resources have been requested, Hooper said.

To the south, the Windy Fire grew to nearly 11 square miles on the Tule River Indian Reservation and in Giant Sequoia National Monument, where it has burned into one grove of sequoias and threatens others. Difficult terrain has prevented officials from assessing damage to the big trees.

Meanwhile, a big change in weather was taking shape in parts of the drought-stricken, fire-scarred West.

Forecasters said a storm heading in from the Pacific would bring rain to the Pacific Northwest and parts of Northern California through the weekend. The rain was not expected to go as far south as Sequoia National Park.