'Heartbreaking' Loss of Giant Sequoias Reported in California's KNP Complex Fire

Wildfires raging across Northern California might have burned hundreds of the giant sequoia trees that grow naturally in the Sierra Nevada, according to an official. Christy Brigham, the head of resource management and science for the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, called the potential loss "heartbreaking," the Associated Press reported.

Brigham said that the KNP Complex Fire, which ignited on September 9 from a lightning strike, has burned into 15 of the parks' giant sequoia groves. The effect of the blaze on the trees varied, with fires burning at a low- or medium-intensity level in most groves, which Brigham said many of the trees have evolved to endure.

Two of the groves, however, seemed to have been hit by high-intensity fire that can shoot flames up to 100 feet high, AP reported. Those flames have the ability to sear the canopies of the soaring trees, putting them at risk of bursting into flames "like a horrible Roman candle," according to Brigham.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze in sometimes treacherous terrain. On Wednesday afternoon, four people working on the fire were injured when a tree fell on them, the National Park Service reported.

The four were airlifted to hospitals and "while the injuries are serious, they are in stable condition," the report said. It didn't provide other details.

The KNP Complex fire was only 11 contained contained after burning 134 square miles (347 square kilometers) of forest. Cooler weather has helped slow the flames and the area could see some slight rain on Friday, forecasters said.

Two burned trees fell in Giant Forest, which is home to about 2,000 sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, which is considered the world's largest by volume. However, the most notable trees survived and Brigham said the grove appeared to be mostly intact.

Firefighters have taken extraordinary measures to protect the sequoias by wrapping fire-resistant material around the bases of some giants, raking and clearing vegetation around them, installing sprinklers and dousing some with water or fire retardant gel.

However, the full extent of the damage won't be known for months, Brigham said. Firefighters are still occupied protecting trees, homes and lives or can't safely reach steep, remote groves that lack roads or even trails, she said.

To the south, the Windy Fire had burned at least 74 sequoias, Garrett Dickman told the Los Angeles Times. The wildfire botanist has recorded damage as part of a sequoia task force preparing and assessing trees in the fire zone.

In one grove, Dickman counted 29 sequoias that were "just incinerated," he told CNN.

"There were four of those that had burned so hot that they'd fallen over," he said.

The 152-acre (395-square-kilometer) fire was 75 percent contained.

Giant sequoias grow naturally only in the Sierra Nevada. The world's most massive trees, they can soar to more than 250 feet (76 meters) with trunks 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter and live for thousands of years.

The trees need low-intensity fire to reproduce. Flames thin out the forest of competitors such as cedars, clearing away shade, and the heat causes the seedlings to open. But fire officials say recent blazes have been much more intense because fire suppression efforts left more undergrowth that's turned bone dry from drought, driven by climate change.

Last year's Castle Fire in and around Sequoia National Park is estimated to have killed as many as 10,600 giant sequoias, or 10 percent to 14 percent of the entire population.

While some groves might have received only patchy fire damage and will recover, every burned giant sequoia is a loss, Brigham said.

"When you stand by a tree that big and that old, 1,000 to 2,000 years old, the loss of any is a heartbreak," she said. "You can't get it back, it's irreplaceable."

California fires have burned more than 3,000 square miles (7,800 square kilometers) so far in 2021, destroying more than 3,000 homes, commercial properties and other structures.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. And the problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.