Businessinsidercoza Worlds largest tree is in path of raging California wildfires desperate bid to save it
A tourist in front of the General Sherman tree at the Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks, California. MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images
Park officials are rushing to protect General Sherman, believed to be the world's largest tree by volume, from oncoming California wildfires.
General Sherman is standing in the path of the KNP Complex fire, which is made up of the Colony Fire, the Paradise Fire, and the Cabin Fire, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
The tree measures 36 feet in diameter at its base and is 275 feet tall, giving it a total volume if 52,508 cubic feet, per the NPS. It is estimated to be about 2,200 years old. It's located in the Giant Forest, a grove that's home to more than 2,000 giant sequoias at the Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks in California.
Park officials are now removing brush and wrapping "some of the iconic monarch sequoias" ahead of the fire's arrival, the park said in a press release on Thursday.
CHECK THIS OUT: Fire officials have covered the base of the Giant Sequoia General Sherman in an aluminized structure wrap to protect it from intense heat in case the KNP Complex Fire reaches it. @ABC30 ??: Sequoia National Park pic.twitter.com/x0g4vfspoK
รข€" Jessica Harrington (@JessicaABC30) September 17, 2021A post shared by SequoiaKingsCanyonNPS (@sequoiakingsnps)
Sequoias are well adapted to survive fires, which help them release seeds and make clearings for young sequoias to grow.
But the climate crisis has driven hotter droughts, which has contributed to "fires that are burning hotter with taller flame lengths," said Christy Brigham, chief of resource management and science at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, The Mercury News reported.
As a result, park crews are taking "extraordinary measures" to protect the trees from the flames, Brigham said.
The bases of the trees have been wrapped in aluminised fire-resistant material called structure wrap that can withstand intense heat for short periods of time, the Associated Press reported.
An annotated version of the KNP Complex Map as of Thursday. The brown represents sequoia groves, the yellow shading are areas where an evacuation warning are in effect. National Parks Service/Insider
As of Wednesday, the Cabin Fire has been completely controlled, the NPS reported.
But the Colony and Paradise fires have been growing: As of Thursday, they have covered 2,013 and 7,352 acres respectively, for a combined total for the KNP Complex of over 9,300 acres with 0% containment, the NPS said.
The NPS reported at 1:40am local time Friday that the two fires were expected to reach the Giant Forest within 48 hours.
An evacuation order is also in place for part of the nearby community of Three Rivers, California.
In 2020, the Castle Fire destroyed thousands of giant sequoia trees.
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