Video: Grove of World’s Largest Trees Threatened by Wildfire in California’s Yosemite National Park
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The Castle Fire of 2020 is estimated to have killed nearly one-fifth of all Giant Sequoia trees remaining, an endangered species of giant redwood that lives for thousands of years. Ironically, fire suppression might be what is killing them, since they evolved to survive regular burns but not the massive blazes made possible by accumulated fuel.
A fire that began on Thursday in California’s Yosemite National Park has grown massively in the last day and now threatens the Mariposa Grove, which has hundreds of mature Giant Sequoia trees, the largest trees in the world.
#WashburnFire just past the south entrance into Yosemite National Park. This area of the park is closed to the public as crews try protect Wawona & the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias pic.twitter.com/pGT5Lrwt91
— Mederios Babb (@mederiosbabb) July 11, 2022
The largest of the trees in Mariposa Grove is called Grizzly Giant and stands 209 feet (63.7 meters) tall. It is estimated to be nearly 3,000 years old, meaning it first took root around the time King David is believed to have ruled over Israel and Judah.
Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokesperson, told the Associated Press that a sprinkler system would protect the trunks of the massive trees, which have a thick bark that evolved to withstand the wildfires common to the area. However, modern fire suppression techniques have eliminated smaller blazes that would have cleaned out available wood for burning - called fuel load - meaning that when a fire does escape control, it has more fuel to become bigger and threaten the Sequoias.
A 2020 fire in Sequoia National Forest destroyed more than 13,000 of the giant trees, an estimated 13-19% of their total numbers.
However, the great conifer’s pine cones require a wildfire in order to open and take root, and among the ashes left in a fire’s wake can often be found tiny Sequoia seedlings that have taken root.
View from above. She’s going good, cleared up just enough to get us work on the ridge above the Sequoia’s. Dip site ended up getting smoked out so they approved the new “Happy Dip” for us. Phenomenal aerial supervision team on this fire. #WashburnFire pic.twitter.com/j0mUBVyitE
— Alex “Moose” Freidin (@countryheli) July 11, 2022
The Washburn Fire has consumed more than 2,000 acres, having more than doubled in size in the previous 24 hours. According to Yosemite Fire, more than 1,600 people have been evacuated ahead of the fire’s anticipated path.
The fire has become so intense that air crews fighting the blaze have reported large branches and other debris being lifted into the sky by the updraft and raining down on their aircraft.
Audio of radio traffic between pilots after a near miss between a large tree branch falling from the column and a large airtanker this afternoon on #WashburnFire. No such thing as low-risk summertime mountain aviation. https://t.co/SSyP5DlE05
— Zeke Lunder ~ The Lookout (@wildland_zko) July 10, 2022
The grove plays an important part in US environmental history, being the place in 1864 where then-US President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation giving the land to the state of California “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation.”
