Fires shut Sequoia National Park, could threaten huge trees
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Sequoia National Park is shut down, its namesake gigantic trees potentially threatened by two forest fires burning in steep and dangerous terrain in California’s Sierra Nevada. Both fires were projected to advance in the direction of Giant Forest, home to more than 2,000 giant sequoias including the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree on Earth by volume.
“There’s no imminent threat to Giant Forest but that is a potential,” Mark Ruggiero, fire information officer for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, said Tuesday. Ruggiero estimated that
the closest flames were about a mile from the grove. Sequoia headquarters personnel, about 75 people, were being evacuated, he said.
All park facilities were already closed and wilderness trailhead permits had been canceled. The Silver City retreat and the summer cabins of Cabin Cove were under evacuation orders. Part of the community of Three Rivers outside the park entrance was under an evacuation warning.
California has had more than 7,400 wildfires so far this year, scorching more than 3,500 square miles (9,065 square kilometers).
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fires-shut-sequoia-national-park-threaten-huge-trees-80014615
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