Hundreds of firefighters tried to prevent a wildfire from flooding an area of rare redwoods in California’s Yosemite National Park on Monday.
The Washburn fire in Mariposa Grove, home to giant sequoias, was first reported July 7 and doubled to 2,340 acres (946 hectares), according to a park report over the weekend.
The Yosemite Fire Service said 545 firefighters were battling the blaze, including “proactive protection” of the grove — the largest redwood grove in Yosemite with over 500 mature trees.
More reinforcements were due to be deployed on Monday as the fire spiraled out of control amid increasingly hot and dry weather, Yosemite Fire Information spokeswoman Nancy Phillipe told AFP.
“It still shows zero percent containment,” Phillipe said.
“We are doing everything we can to put this fire out,” she added, including using air tankers and helicopters and ground crews.
In the Sequoia Grove, crews worked to remove rapidly burning leaves, sticks, and branches, drenching the ground and trees.
The Yosemite Fire Department tweeted footage of emergency sprinklers set up specifically to water the grove’s “Grizzly Giant” — the most famous sequoia in the park, which at 200 feet is the second tallest tree in Yosemite, and one of the oldest.
Phillipe said the response team is “confident that we have the trees up for as much protection as possible” with the recent effort aided by previously mandated burns.
– “A Long Season” –
Giant sequoias are the largest trees in the world by volume. Their relatives, the California redwoods, can grow taller – well over 100 meters – but are not as wide.
Both tree species are adapted to fire, with thick bark that protects them from the heat.
During their lives, measured in thousands of years, they typically endure many fires, the heat of which helps their cones open and seeds to disperse.
But longer, hotter, more aggressive fires can damage them, sometimes beyond repair, and California has recently experienced back-to-back severe fire seasons.
Scientists say global warming, caused largely by humanity’s uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, is making extreme weather events more likely.
Last year, huge, hot, and fast-moving wildfires ravaged California and other parts of the western United States, fueled by years of drought and a warming climate.
Two of those California fires burned 3,600 giant sequoias, each more than four feet in diameter.
The year before, 10,000 of the giants – up to 14 percent of the world’s total – died in another fire.
Amid drought and scorching temperatures, fire chiefs have warned of ever-lengthening fire seasons.
California Fire Department CalFire has already reported more than 3,500 fires in 2022, burning an estimated 22,900 acres.
“It’s only early July,” Phillipe said, expressing concern about the lengthening of seasons.
“Every year we say, ‘Wow, this is going to be a long season’ and the seasons just keep getting longer.”
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