THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) - Crews were watching the weather this weekend as they battled California wildfires that have burned into some groves of ancient sequoias as they try to protect the world’s largest tree. The National Weather Service issued a weather watch for critical fire conditions in the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada, where two lightning-caused fires merged Friday after making its largest growth in a week. The fire reached the western tip of the Giant Forest, where it burned four sequoias known as the “Four Guardsmen” that flank the road into the grove of 2,000 sequoias. The extent of the fire’s damage on the trees has not been determined. Firefighters have wrapped the base of the General Sherman Tree, along with other trees in the Giant Forest, in fire-resistant aluminum of the type used in wildland firefighter emergency shelters and to protect historic wooden buildings, fire spokeswoman Katy Hooper said. The Biggest Tree in the World, the General Sherman, raked and wrapped in preparation for the incoming #KNPComplex fire. Sequoia National Park pic.twitter.com/EpVkaYvimE The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters), according to the National Park Service. It towers 275 feet (84 meters) high and has a circumference of 103 feet (31 meters) at ground level. The fires, known together as the KNP Complex, burned 28 square miles (72 square kilometers) of forest land after making a significant run Friday. Low-hanging smoke that had choked off air and limited the fire’s growth in recent days lifted, and gusts increased fire activity particularly near the Giant Forest, Hooper said. The flames chased away firefighters who were wrapping the sequoias in aluminum and clearing vegetation on the forest floor that would intensify fire close to the trees, Hooper said. A hotshot crew was assessing conditions near the Four Guardsmen Saturday morning to... |