The relief workers were hopeful Friday to be able to save the most imposing trees in the world, the giant redwoods of California, threatened in recent days by the progression of a nearby fire.
“We have hundreds of firefighters deployed in the area, who are giving their all,” Mark Garrett, spokesperson for California firefighters who are fighting the fire dubbed “KNP”, told AFP. Fusion of two fires started by lightning a week ago at the gates of Sequoia National Park in central California, it has already consumed some 46 km2 of vegetation.
“Our biggest challenge was the (steep) terrain. But we did not have to face an explosive fire, the flames decreased in intensity, which allowed us to progress,” he explained.
Sequoia National Park is home to around 2,000 giant sequoias, which only grow in this region of the world and are considered the most voluminous trees in existence today.
The firefighters have carried out in recent days clearing work and other arrangements to preserve these colossi, some of which are 2,000 to 3,000 years old. They even draped a fireproof protective blanket over the base of the most iconic of them, dubbed “General Sherman”. 83 meters high and 11 meters in diameter at its base, it is considered by experts to be the largest tree in the world.
Supported by air resources, the 600 or so firefighters mobilized also deployed devices to ensure that the flames were kept away from the natural park, which remains closed to the public.
The “Giant Forest” of Sequoia Park, which is home to five of the most voluminous trees known in the world including “General Sherman”, normally attracts tourists from all over the world.
“If the flames really reach the forest, we are ready,” said Garrett.
– A meter of bark –
Low intensity fires are generally not sufficient to harm giant sequoias, “naturally adapted” to these disasters with their very resistant bark, which can reach up to a meter in thickness.
“It’s really hard to burn these trees whose first branches can grow thirty meters high”, out of the reach of the flames. “They have seen many fires,” notes Mark Garrett.
On the contrary, these sequoias need fires to reproduce: the heat of the flames bursts the cones that have fallen to the ground like popcorn to release hundreds of seeds.
But these giants, which only grow in California, on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, are not on the other hand adapted to survive the more intense fires that have tended to break out in recent years thanks to climate change.
In August 2020, a violent fire called “Castle Fire” had devastated 700 km2 of the park of Sequoia. According to an analysis by satellite imagery, between 7,500 and 10,000 sequoias were destroyed by the flames, or at least 10% of the global population of this species.
The chronic drought in the western United States and the absence of controlled fires, started to limit the proliferation of brush and undergrowth, are partly responsible, said the spokesman for the firefighters.
“This is what put us in this situation, with a too high density of trees, which is not healthy. When a fire occurs, it gets carried away, with totally extreme behavior”, a- he added.
Fortunately, such ecobuages (controlled fires) have been carried out for the past 25 to 30 years in the “Giant Forest,” adds Garrett.
Thousands of square kilometers of forests have already burned this year in California. The number and intensity of fires have multiplied in recent years throughout the western United States, with a marked lengthening of the fire season.
According to experts, this phenomenon is particularly linked to global warming: the increase in temperature, the increase in heat waves and the drop in precipitation in places form an ideal incendiary cocktail.
The Dixie Fire, triggered in mid-July in northern California, is still burning and has already covered nearly 3,900 km2. It is fast becoming the biggest fire in the history of the state.
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