Groves of giant Sequoias are in danger from California wildfire. How imminent is the threat?

As a pair for fires continues their uncontained burn in Sequoia National Park, there is concern for the safety of the historic groves of giant Sequoia trees within the park.

“These are two very active fires,” Mark Ruggiero with the National Parks Service said on Tuesday.

“It’s a concern.”

Collectively known as the KNP Complex, the fires have burned more than 3,000 acres of dense forest in mostly inaccessible terrain inside the park.

So far, the Sequoia groves are safe, Ruggerio said, and there is no imminent threat from the fires.

But the fires are also uncontained and unpredictable, he said.

“There’s always a concern with a fire.”

Giant sequoias are adapted to fire and indeed they need fire to reproduce. But in the past few years, the intensity of California’s wildfires have caused major damage.

Thousands of giant Sequoias were killed in the national park, monument and forest during the Castle Fire last year. An estimated 10% to 14% of the world’s population of giant sequoias more than 4 feet in diameter — between 7,500 and 10,600 mature trees — were likely killed.

Sequoia National Park is home to the so-called Giant Forest, a groves of Sequoias that includes The General Sherman Tree. It is the world’s largest, measured by volume, and is 275 feet tall and more than 36 feet wide at its base.

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Groves of giant Sequoias are in danger from California wildfire. How imminent is the threat?."