Firefighters of California are wrapping the giant trees in Sequoia National Park with fireproof aluminum blankets in order to protect them from the rapidly worsening KNP Complex Fire. The world’s largest tree (by volume), the 25,00 years-old and 275-foot “General Sherman,” also comes in the group.
This week too, the park got shut down due to lighting, and it started to burn through steep canyons, reports CNBC. The place is suffering through this issue of constant fires a lot this season, as California has seen the Dixie Fire, the second-largest ever. With every passing decade, the fire is getting faster and the climate hotter.
This Giant Forest is being protected by the crew from fire by removing fuel and applying structure wrap on the iconic monarch sequoias of the Sequoia National Park. Also, this is necessary because the fire is not limited and grows in all directions.
The park’s entrance, the Ash Mountain Entrance was also covered with a fireproof wrapping as the entrance of the Sequoia National is also carved out of blocks of sequoia wood.
Preparations for burnout operations are also being conducted by the crew to save the areas at high risk. To protect the land from the larger, less controlled blaze is possible by igniting ground fires that will reduce the fuel around that area.
According to the information from federal InciWeb, 11,365 acres of the area got burned in the KNP Complex Fire. Since June, almost 129 fires have ignited in the western states and 28 alone in California. Though the trees know how to withstand wildfires, the sequoia population is threatened by the elevating heat and drought.
Along with wrapping the trees with aluminum blankets, vegetation was also removed so that fire doesn’t spread, reports The Guardian.
In other news, Switzerland is Covering Glaciers with Blankets in order to protect them from Melting.
