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A wildfire burning near the southern Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park has become the latest blaze to threaten the world’s largest trees, which have been repeatedly threatened in recent years as climate change increases the intensity of the fires.
The grove, home to more than 500 mature giant sequoias, closed Thursday after visitors reported seeing smoke from the Washburn Fire near a trailhead. About 1,600 people—almost all hikers—evacuated the next day from the nearby community of Wawona, California, and its campground.
A forest fire in Yosemite National Park threatens more than 500 redwood trees. (Video: The Washington Post)
As of Saturday morning, no injuries, destroyed structures or critical damage to the redwoods had been reported, said Nancy Phillip, Yosemite fire information spokeswoman. All named trees, including the 209-foot Grizzly Giant and the Bachelor and the Three Graces, remained safe.
“That’s one of the main priorities is protecting this grove and all the history that goes with it,” Philip said.
Redwoods, which are native only to the Sierra Nevada and can live up to 3,000 years, have been increasingly threatened by worsening fires over the past few summers. Although they are used to frequent wildfires, three fires since 2020 have killed 13 to 19 percent of all redwoods. Natural resource experts expect another large-scale die-off is possible this year.
The world’s largest trees are struggling to survive climate change
The Washburn fire poses another threat. Its origin is under investigation and Philip said there are no obvious weather-related causes.
Firefighters used a variety of tools to protect the grove Saturday as the uncontained fire spread to more than 700 acres, Phillip said. Engines sprayed the redwoods with hoses and built hand lines, a type of fire line constructed with hand tools to create fuel breaks. Crews also covered the redwoods with fire-resistant aluminum cladding.
From 2021: Fire threatens trees in Sequoia National Park. Fire blankets are the protection.
Forecasts for high temperatures and low humidity this weekend will complicate firefighting efforts already hampered by downed trees, Phillip said. Trees ravaged by bark beetles, killed by climate change-induced drought and felled by a major wind storm serve as fuel for the flames.
Prescribed burns conducted periodically at Mariposa Grove over the past few years have helped slow the development of unwanted fires, Phillip said. In wildfire-prone areas, controlled burns free up fuel and free up space for firefighters to work.
Mariposa Grove, located near Yosemite’s south entrance, closed in 2015 and reopened three years later after a $40 million restoration project — the largest in the park’s history. The initiative restored redwood habitat, realigned roads and added a shuttle from the arrivals area.
After all that work, Philip said, park officials aren’t giving up on protecting the grove.
“We are putting out this fire,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can to put it out.”
Last year, trees in California’s Sequoia National Park were threatened by the KNP Complex fire, when flames sparked by lightning came dangerously close to the 275-foot General Sherman, the world’s largest tree by volume. The 2020 Castle Fire burned a third of the region’s redwood groves.
Nearly 23,000 acres have been burned by wildfires in California this year.
People who never thought they were at risk from climate change are waking up to floods and fires. (Video: Monica Rodman/The Washington Post)
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