5:51 a.m. PDT Sept. 17, 2021
In order to protect the largest tree in the world from a wildfire in Sequoia National Park extraordinary measures are being taken. In an effort to prepare a grove of giant sequoias for the expected spread of the KNP Complex of fires into the area, personnel are attaching fire resistant material usually used on structures on some of the iconic monarch sequoias that characterize the most famous area of Sequoia National Park. Firefighters are also carefully burning out around the largest or most vulnerable trees, basically treating them again with prescribed fire.
The KNP Complex of fires ignited by lightning on September 9 is growing in all directions in Sequoia National Park in Southern California. The complex is comprised of the Paradise and the Colony Fires. A mapping flight Thursday night found that the combined size of the two, which were about a quarter-mile apart, was approximately 11,300 acres.
To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the KNP Complex of fires, including the most recent, click HERE.
North of the Paradise Fire is the Giant Forest, a grove of very large giant sequoias. In this area is the General Sherman, the world’s largest tree measured by volume. It stands 275 feet tall, and is over 36 feet in diameter at the base. The National Park Service has been managing this grove with prescribed fire since the 1960s which will help the monster trees fend off the fire, but the multi-year drought has led to historically low fuel moistures, leading to concern that they could be damaged by these very intense fires.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is maintaining a map showing the areas under evacuation orders.
On Thursday fire activity picked up in the late afternoon with terrain driven surface spread and short crown fire runs as the smoke cleared, humidity levels dropped, and the temperature increased.
Firefighters from CAL FIRE are building an indirect dozer line southwest of the Paradise Fire outside the National Park, a project that is expected to take several days to complete. It starts at park headquarters near the Ash Mountain Entrance and runs southeast along the toe of Paradise Ridge south of Milk Ranch.
There are multiple large giant sequoia groves and structures southeast of the Paradise Fire that could be threatened, including Atwell Grove, Silver City Resort, and Mineral King Ranger Station.
Resources assigned to the fire include 10 hand crews, 28 engines, and 8 helicopters for a total of 416 personnel.
Wildfires are a natural part of the wilderness lifecycle. That said, if something can be done, within reason, to help protect these trees then do it. Foil wrapping may seem like a joke but at least it’s something. If this wasn’t done people would be crying “why wasn’t more done!”
General Sherman won’t burn. General Sherman does the burning.
Other side of the country…
Ah yes, in Region 8. Sherman pulled off fantastic RX burns in Georgia and South Carolina. He got the Region 8 prescribed fire program established. He cleaned it up real nice.
KNP is not in Southern California…it is in Fresno and Tulare Counties ?
Not remotely true in this case, no structures lost per the IMSR.
Here we go again, save the tree’s let peoples homes and property burn to the ground.
BM – as a Forester and long time wildland firefighter, I must respectfully disagree: in almost all cases on Federal Public Lands, property is a higher priority for protection than are natural resources. But this situation is different. Giant Sequoias are National Treasures and are close to irreplaceable for hundreds of years. And they are in a National Park, so private homes and property are not part of your “Either – Or” logic. Besides, folks make conscious decisions to build their homes in fire prone areas and don’t use fire wise construction or have fire resistant landscaping. Then expect firefighters to “save” their propertied. No Can Do.
t
Thanks Mr Mangan for adding some hard gained knowledge, long term Wildland firefighting/rx Fire experience in these threads as needed. I for one appreciate it. Guess I’m tired of every person with a cell phone and an opinion giving their 2 cents worth about every topic under the sun – without a lick of knowledge or experience in what they are talking about.
Thanks!
Hi Dick,
I agree with you totally. I lost a cabin and shed in the Boot Leg and I never tried to insure them because my insurance company would not consider it and I would question any insurance company which did when the nearest fire department is about half an hour away and the climate is arid and my property was surrounded by 60+ foot ponderosa pine.. But the environment was my UTOPIA and still is. I bought it for something to physical to do, and now I have lots of work to do.
Have a good day, Jerry
Good comprehensive report written by NPS staff of past fires (2015-2020) and their impacts on giant sequoia.
– 2015 Rough Fire (151K acres)
– 2017 Pier Fire (36K acres)
-2017 Railroad Fire (12K acres)
-2020 Castle Fire (170K acres)
Well, not exactly . . . . .
Approximately 10,600 Sequoias were killed in the Castle Fire in 2020.
EBH
Sequoia NP is not in Southern California! It is in Central California.
Hi Gary Lee Buckwalter,
Thank you for this information which illustrates the stupidity of the mangers!!! They ignore this thing we term HISTORY. For in the lifetimes of these big tree, how many lighting strikes can one imagine there have been which have started a wildfire which threatened them? Yet, they have survived wiihout the help of firefighters!!!
Have a good day, Jerry
This effort is simply but extremely misguided. The few feet of protective wrap around the base of a massive tree, especially in the absence of significant ladder fuel, is a joke.
I have substantial training as a naturalist and in wildland firefighting and prescribed. Fires area necessary part of the life cycle of sequoias. There bark is feet thick and protects them against fire, in most cases. Even quick searches show broad based recognition of this fact.
“15 Incredible Facts About Giant Sequoia Trees
Giant Sequoia trees are truly the skyscrapers of the natural world.
Giant Sequoia trees are truly the skyscrapers of the natural world. They’re one of three members of the Sequoioideae subfamily, and the giants in particular are very unique. Here are 15 incredible tree facts about these humble giants.
Giant sequoias are rare trees
Giant sequoias can only grow along a narrow, 260-mile strip on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.
Giant sequoia trees are among the oldest trees in the world.
A giant sequoia tree can live up to 3,000 years.
Giant sequoias know how to branch out
A giant sequoia tree’s largest branches can be eight feet in diameter.
Giant Sequoia trees have thick skin
You could say the giant sequoia is thick skinned. Its bark can be up to 3 feet thick!
Giant sequoias are protected
Giant sequoias were once logged, but the practice stopped over a century ago because the tree’s wood is brittle. Today, the trees are protected.
Giant sequoias are huge trees
The largest giant sequoia is taller than a 26 story building. That’s pretty tall!
It is rare for a giant sequoia tree to grow taller than 300 feet.
Most giant sequoias are not able to grow to a height greater than 300 feet. The tallest sequoia is an abnormally tall 379 feet!
Giant sequoias are some of the widest trees in the world
The giant sequoia’s girth is what truly makes it a giant. Their trunks are sometimes 35 feet across. It’d take six people stretched out head to toe to match its width.
Giant sequoias really know how to fill up a room
The world’s largest tree by volume, General Sherman, is a giant sequoia boasting a total volume of more than 52,000 cubic feet.
A giant sequoia is the world’s largest living organism
General Sherman is the largest living organism on the planet. It is 2,100 years old and weighs 2.7 million pounds.
Giant sequoias are pretty hardy
Giant sequoias are one of the world’s hardiest trees. Their thick bark makes them flame resistant, as well as resistant to fungal rot and wood-boring beetles.
Giant sequoias live the longest
Giant sequoias are the third longest-living tree species on the planet. The only trees that live longer are bristlecone pines and Alerce trees.
Giant sequoias are always growing
Giant sequoia trees never stop growing until the day they die.
Giant sequoias have single-child households
In order to sustain the species, a giant sequoia needs to produce only one offspring over its entire lifespan.
Giant sequoias aren’t quick to reproduce
The giant sequoia only reproduces every 20 years. Forest fires are required to open its cones.”https://blog.tentree.com/15-incredible-facts-about-giant-sequoia-trees/
Numerous sequoia trees were damaged in a fire last year.
I would say that last year’s sequoia trees were killed by foliage scorch, with fire running uphill on south facing slopes in the summer heat. The Giant Forest trees tend to be in mesic areas, often on nearly flat ground, fine fuels have been trampled by millions of visitors in some areas, and with much prescribed fire used over the decades. So, I would tend to agree that wrapping the base of the Sherman tree is a waste of time, though the trees and structures at the rim of the Giant Forest area, where the fires will run uphill into the grove, are at more risk.
Nice cut and paste job.
Great comment except for two facts: the Lincoln and Washington trees WERE both on the Alta trail near Sherman until they both burned to the ground within the past dozen years. Climate change has nulified your comments. Humans invented this problem and humans need to protect these greatest of all trees.
Gary –
Giant sequoias are killed by intense fires, such as those currently occurring in our Sierra Nevada.
“…preliminary estimates suggest that the 2020 Castle Fire killed between 31% to 42% of large sequoias within the Castle Fire footprint, or 10% to 14% of all large sequoias across the tree’s natural range in the Sierra Nevada. This translates to an estimated loss of 7,500 to 10,600 large sequoias (those with trunk diameters of 4 feet or more).”
(https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preliminary-estimates-of-sequoia-mortality-in-the-2020-castle-fire.htm)
I don’t know if wrapping the base is effective protection, but, according to park spokesperson, “The idea is to keep ground fire from getting at the tree where it is most likely to burn, which is close to the ground.”
Can someone please invent a (smaller than sequoia) tree cover like ones made for freeze protection, but made out of fire blanket material for fire protection? Asking for millions of friends…
Thanks for the info, Bill. Was just there last summer.