Wildfire reaches Giant Forest; fate of giant sequoias unknown

A lightning-sparked wildfire in Sequoia National Park has scorched the edge of the Giant Forest, home to some 2,000 giant sequoias that includes one of the world’s largest known trees.

The KNP Complex fire on Friday burned through the westernmost tip of the forest off General’s Highway near the Four Guardsmen, a grouping of giant sequoias that mark the forest’s entrance, said Steven Bekkerus, public information officer with the Southern Area Blue Team. The forest is located east of Fresno.

The bases of the trees were wrapped in protective foil that can withstand high heat and is typically used to guard structures against flames, he said. But it wasn’t clear how intensely the fire burned through the area or how the trees fared, he said.

Giant sequoias are considered one of the most fire-adapted species on Earth, but experts say the drought-stressed trees are increasingly no match for massive, high-intensity blazes stoked by climate change and a buildup of dry vegetation in western U.S. forests.

Crews were hoping to get in and assess the situation later Saturday, but they had to first clear General’s Highway — the only way in and out of the forest — of falling rocks and flaming vegetation that continued to roll onto the road, Bekkerus said.

That came as the two fires that comprised the complex — the Colony and the Paradise fires, which were sparked by a Sept. 9 lightning storm — merged overnight, swelling to 17,857 acres and making a run to the north and northeast. Firefighters reported 0% containment.

As of Saturday morning, the fire had not affected most of the Giant Forest, including the famed General Sherman tree, believed to be the largest in the world by volume, Bekkerus said. The tree is on the north end of the forest.

Authorities were not sure whether flames would reach there later in the day.

“We don’t know exactly what will happen today,” Bekkerus said. “Today may be an active fire day.”

Fire activity started to increase around 2 p.m. Friday, when the wind picked up and a smoke inversion lifted, allowing the sun to heat up the vegetation, Bekkerus said.

“We actually had to pull our crews out for safety reasons,” he said.

Crews were back out fighting the fire Saturday morning, he said. They were also protecting structures in the cabin communities of Mineral King and in Three Rivers, where over 100 homes were threatened, he said.

There were 416 personnel assigned to the incident, with more resources on order, Bekkerus said.

“This is one of the highest priority fires in the country right now, so we are trying to wrap those resources up and get what we need,” he said.

Firefighters were scrambling to make progress before a red-flag warning issued by the National Weather Service took effect at 5 p.m. As a trough of low pressure moved in from the west, forecasters were calling for very low relative humidity values and strong winds gusting as high as 45 mph, said Bill South, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford.

“All that in combination could lead to extreme fire behavior,” he said.

The critical fire weather conditions were expected to persist through most of the weekend, with the…