The Colony fire and paradise–two wildfires in California are burning by means of the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada. The spot is home to some of the biggest trees identified in the world. General Sherman, the world’s biggest tree, is also beneath threat and firefighters are attempting tough to save the tree from the blaze. A report by the Associated Press reveals that even though the sequoia trees are fire-resistant, the intensity of wildfire can be as well substantially for the trees, leaving the trees ablaze.
What tends to make General Sherman the world’s biggest tree?
The General Sherman is the world’s biggest tree when it comes down to volume and existence in the Giant Forest sequoia grove of the national park. The current estimates say that the General Sherman is about 2,200 years old and at 275 feet tall (taller than the leaning tower of Pisa). It has a diameter of 36 feet at the base and diameter of 17.5 feet from 60 feet above the base.
Sequoia National Park: Wildfires
It is mentioned that low to moderate severity wildfires in the Sequoia National Park burn each and every 6-35 years about, noted NPS (National Park Service). Occasional fires in the region have made gaps in the forest canopy generating space for seedlings to develop. The park employees estimated that much less than 10 per cent of the big sequoias have been ruined due to low severity. And about 34 per cent died due to extreme fire.
The Castle fire that began in August (2020) in the remote element of the national forest burnt some 171,000 acres followed by more than 9,530 acres of giant sequoia groves on US Forest Service, State of California, National Park Service Tulare County and private lands. Overall, this burned the complete region that represents a third of all sequoia grove region across the Sierra Nevada. This region is the only spot in the world exactly where giant sequoias develop naturally, noted NPS. The Giant sequoia trees have been placed in the national park for thousands of years and on estimation basis, there are at least 2,000 such trees in the park. Firefighters are now wrapping the region covered by world’s biggest trees followed by other individuals with the assist of fire-resistant aluminum blankets onto the bases of the trees in order to save the trees.