[ad_1]
Yosemite National Park, July 10 (AP) The largest giant sequoia grove in Yosemite National Park remained closed Saturday as firefighters battled a blaze that threatened an iconic gathering of trees, and forced hundreds of campers to evacuate.
The rest of the California park remains open, but the smoke in the air obscures some of the most beautiful views and views.
Mariposa Grove has more than 500 mature redwoods threatened, but as of Saturday afternoon, there were no reports of serious damage to any named trees, including the 3,000-year-old giant grizzly bear. Some of the massive tree trunks were wrapped in fire-resistant foil for protection when the fire got out of control.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Outside the woods, the small community of Wawona surrounded by parks and campsites is under threat, with people ordered to leave their homes and campsites on Friday night.
The fire proved uncontrollable, and firefighters threw “every imaginable strategy” at it, said Nancy Phillipe, a spokeswoman for Yosemite fire information. That includes air-dropping flame retardants as well as plans to use bulldozers to create lines of fire, a tactic Philip said is rarely used in wilderness settings like Yosemite.
Bulldozers are mainly used to lay fire lines to protect Wawona, she said. About 600 to 700 people living in tents, cabins and a historic hotel at the Wawona campground were ordered to leave.
While firefighters face hot, dry conditions, they won’t have to deal with strong winds on Saturday, said Jeffrey Barlow, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford. Given the relatively small size of the fire and minimal winds, the smoke effects are not expected to extend beyond the park, he said.
Native to some 70 groves of groves on the western slopes of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, giant redwoods were once thought to be fire-proof, but have become increasingly vulnerable as a century of firefighting and drought exacerbated them. Climate change has become more dramatic and destructive.
Over the past two years, wildfires sparked by lightning have killed about one-fifth of the roughly 75,000 giant redwoods, the largest trees.
Philip said the fire that broke out next to the park’s Washburn Trail on Thursday had no apparent natural sparks. Tourists walking in the grove, which reopened in 2018 after a three-year, $40 million renovation, reported smoke.
By Saturday morning, the fire had grown to about 1.1 square miles (2.8 square kilometers).
A year and a half ago, a violent storm swept through the woods, bringing down 15 giant redwoods, as well as countless other trees.
Fallen trees, as well as numerous pine trees killed by bark beetles, provided ample fuel for the blaze.
The park has used prescribed burns to clear the underbrush around the redwoods, which helps protect them if the flames spread further into the woods.
Meanwhile, most evacuation orders were lifted Saturday in the foothills of the Sierra, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) northwest of the Yosemite Fire, where the fire broke out on July 4. The Electra Fire, which started near Jackson, is mostly contained, with only the area directly within the fire still under evacuation orders, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
[ad_2]
Source link