Yosemite wildfire spreads as crew protects giant US Sequoia

Wildfires threatening the largest sequoia orchards in Yosemite National Park more than double in a day, and firefighters say as the United States survives another very active year due to the fire. Worked in difficult terrain to protect the iconic trees and small mountain towns.

Residents near the camper vans and flames were evacuated, but the rest of California’s vast parks remained open, officials said Sunday.

“It’s the most smoky we’ve seen today,” Yosemite fire intelligence spokesman Nancy Philip said on Sunday. “Until this morning, the park wasn’t in that unhealthy category, but that’s where we are now.”

The famous Mariposa Grove threatened more than 500 mature Sequoias, but there were no reports of serious damage to named trees, including the 3,000-year-old grizzly giant.

Threats to trees and communities

According to Philip, the sprinkler system installed in the grove will moisten the trunk of the tree, and authorities hope to keep the flames away with a stable spray of water along with previously prescribed burns. rice field.

The cause of the washburn fire is under investigation. It had grown to nearly 6.7 square kilometers by Sunday morning and had no containment.

Beyond the trees, the Wawona community surrounded by green spaces was threatened and people were ordered to leave late on Friday.

In addition to the inhabitants, about 600 to 700 people who were staying in tents, cabins and the Wawona campground of the historic hotel were ordered to leave.

The giant sequoia, which grows naturally in about 70 orchards along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, was once thought to be flame-resistant, but with centuries of fire control and drought-induced undergrowth accumulation. It is becoming more and more vulnerable due to the wildfires that have been triggered. The climate crisis is becoming more intense and destructive.

Park spokesman Philip previously said that some of the huge trunks were wrapped in refractory foil for protection, but she fixed herself on Sunday and this wasn’t the case for the fire. Said that.

However, she said the crew wrapped the historic hut in protective foil.

Over 35,000 wildfires so far

Wildfires caused by lightning over the past two years have killed one-fifth of an estimated 75,000 large sequoia. It is the largest tree in volume and is a great attraction for tourists to a national park the same size as Rhode Island.

According to Philip, the fire next to the park’s Washburn Trail on Thursday had no apparent natural sparks. Smoke was reported by visitors walking through an orchard that reopened in 2018 after a $ 40 million refurbishment that took three years.

A heavy storm struck the orchard over a year ago, killing 15 giant sequoia and countless other trees.

The fallen tree, along with the huge number of pine trees killed by bark beetles, provided sufficient fuel for the flames.

So far in 2022, more than 35,000 wildfires have burned nearly 4.7 million acres in the United States, well above the average for both and wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Source: AP