World's largest tree wrapped in fire-resistant blanket as California blaze creeps closer (Guardian)

[eppur_se_muova]

Firefighters have wrapped the base of the world’s largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning in California’s rugged Sierra Nevada.

The colossal General Sherman tree in Sequoia national park’s giant forest, some of the other sequoias, the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings were wrapped as protection against the possibility of intense flames, fire spokesperson Rebecca Paterson said.

The aluminium wrapping can withstand intensive heat for short periods. Federal officials say they have been using the material for several years throughout the US west to protect sensitive structures from flames. Homes near Lake Tahoe that were wrapped in protective material survived while others nearby were destroyed.

The Colony fire, one of two burning in Sequoia national park, was expected to reach the Giant Forest, a grove of 2,000 sequoias, at some point on Thursday. It comes after a wildfire killed thousands of sequoias, some as tall as high-rises and thousands of years old, in the region last year.

The General Sherman tree is the largest in the world by volume, at 1,487 cubic meters, according to the National Park Service. It towers 84 meters high and has a circumference of 31 meters at ground level.
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more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/17/worlds-largest-tree-wrapped-in-fire-resistant-blanket-as-california-blaze-creeps-closer

[electric_blue68]

1. Oh, no!

Our Amazing Giant Sequoias!!!!!

😦😧

[captain queeg]

2. I slept underneath the biggest tree in the world many years ago

Back when things were more open my brother and I spent a summer backpacking in the Sierras. One night we snuck into the park and put our sleeping bags under the tree and spent the night. I’d remembered it as the Grant tree, but they all had names and we slept under the one that was said to be the biggest. Beautiful summer night. We both felt like there was almost a consciousness there, they were a couple thousand years old I think. Got up early and hiked out. Pretty sure you couldn’t do that nowadays.

[orleans]

5. what a wonderful memory! i'm glad you were able to do that. nt

[Demovictory9]

3. Nooooooooo

[Moebym]

4. I can't stand to watch trees get felled or turned into woodchips

Knowing these millennia-old trees are burning to ash because of man-made climate change is almost more than I can take.

[Duppers]

6. Same here.

And just a dozen yrs ago, a few of us DUers were still trying to convince the doubters here that GW is real! SMH.

Few want to curb consumption, their trips, or limit the # of offsprings. Heck, my brother became furious when I just told him he uses too many paper towels.
SMH.

[markie]

7. ...

[Lucinda]

8. ❤️ ✿❧🌿❧✿ ❤️

[brer cat]

9. I hope they save it.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

10. That is utterly freaking depressing

Not that they're protecting the General but I'm sure they can't protect the whole grove.

Man I hope they stop the fire before it gets there in the first place.