On Tuesday, September 14, 2021, firefighters lay a hose around the Foothills Visitor Center while fighting a KNP complex fire in Sequoia National Park, California. Flames are burning near a huge forest inhabited by over 2,000 giant Sequoias. (AP photo / Noah Burger)
Sequoia National Park, California (AP) —Wednesday, firefighting resources were skyrocketing to combat two growing forest fires threatening the giant Sequoia trees and infrastructure in Sequoia National Park.
A colony and paradise fire ignited by a lightning strike last week covered approximately 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) in the steep Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.
Mark Ruggero, fire intelligence officer at Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, said the colony fire was a threat to the giant forest, which is home to more than 2,000 Sequoia, but is not imminent.
The fire is one of the latest in a long summer of flames that burned more than 3,500 square miles (9,065 square kilometers) in California and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Sequoia National Park was closed and its headquarters and resident employees were evacuated with part of the Three Rivers community outside the entrance.
The historic wooden entrance sign of the park, built in 1935, was covered with fire-resistant packaging and hoses were installed in the headquarters area to protect the structure.
More than 300 firefighters lined up with the help of helicopters and aerial firefighters, if smoke conditions allowed. On Thursday, inter-ministerial management teams across the country took over the fire and managed it collectively as a KNP complex, with more resources expected, Rugiero said.
The 50-year history of using open burning to remove other types of trees and vegetation in the park’s sequoia groves was expected to help giants survive by reducing the impact of flames reaching them. , Said Ruggiero.
The giant Sequoia, thousands of years ago, lives on the western side of Sierra. They are adapted to fire and can help them prosper by releasing seeds from the corn and creating clearings that allow young sequoias to grow.
However, Ruggero pointed out that unusually strong fires in current climatic conditions could overwhelm Sequoia. This is the scenario that happened when Castlefire in 2020 caused tremendous tree death in the area.
Studies show that 7,500 to 10,600 large Sequoias, along with many other sizes, were estimated to have been killed by the fire, according to the National Park Service.
Colony fires also pose a wider risk as they burn at altitudes in Central Sierra, where there are 280 million pine trees and other types of trees killed by droughts and bark beetles.
“Colony fires are burning especially in very bad places … these trees are like Jack Straw, which makes it difficult to place firefighters in some of these areas,” he said. ..
Elsewhere, the two California fires that caused massive destruction in northern Sierra and southern Cascade were not widespread.
The state’s second-largest fire, the Dixie fire, remained 75% contained after burning 1,500 square miles in the northern Sierra and southern Cascade regions. Near Lake Tahoe, 342 square miles (885 square kilometers) of Caldor fire containment increased to 70%.
A 20-year-old Ukiah man was arrested on Tuesday in northern San Francisco and imprisoned for a Hopkins fire in Mendocino County, the California Forest Fire Department said in a statement. A fire broke out north of Ukiah on Sunday, burning 257 acres (104 hectares), destroying homes and forcing evacuation.
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Antczak reported from Los Angeles. San Francisco Associated Press correspondent Johnny Har contributed to this report.
Huge trees in Sequoia National Park are at risk of fire | WGN Radio 720
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