Four famous giant sequoias were not harmed by a wildfire that reached the edge of Giant Forest in California’s Sequoia National Park, authorities have said.
The Four Guardsmen, a group of trees that form a natural entryway on the road to the forest, were protected from the KNP Complex fire by the removal of nearby vegetation and by wrapping fire-resistant material around the bases of the trees, the firefighting management team said.
The KNP Complex began as two lightning-sparked fires that eventually merged and has scorched more than 37 square miles in the heart of sequoia country on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.
The Windy Fire has burned through the Peyrone and Red Hill groves, as well as a portion of the Long Meadow Grove along the Trail of 100 Giants.
“Generally fires can be destructive, however low-intensity fires can be beneficial to giant sequoia trees. A damage assessment will be done in these groves when it is safe to do so,” a Sequoia National Forest statement said on Sunday.
The Windy Fire has burned more than 37 square miles.
A large area of northern California was under a red flag warning for extreme fire danger on Monday due to dry offshore winds that can raise fire danger.
The warning did not extend into southern California, but forecasters said there would be weak Santa Ana winds and significant warming, elevating the risk of wildfires.
Historic drought tied to climate change is making wildfires harder to fight. It has killed millions of trees in California alone.
Scientists say climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
More than 7,000 wildfires in California this year have damaged or destroyed over 3,000 homes and other buildings and torched well over 3,000 square miles of land, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
