From @mosheh: Firefighters are wrapping fire-resistant blankets around ancient trees as blazes tear through California’s world-famous Sequoia National Park.

Officials fear the fire could reach the Giant Forest, a grove of some of the world’s biggest trees, within hours.

The forest hosts some 2,000 sequoias, including the 275ft General Sherman, the biggest single-stem tree by volume on Earth and about 2,500 years old.

Aluminum blankets can withstand heat and flames for short periods of time and have been proven to protect homes and trees in the past. Sequoias are well adapted to survive fires, which help them release seeds and make clearings for young sequoias to grow.

But the climate crisis has driven hotter droughts, which has contributed to “fires that are burning hotter with taller flame lengths,” park officials said.

The Colony and Paradise fires have been growing for a week.

More than 350 firefighters, along with helicopters and water-dropping planes, have been mobilized to battle the blazes.

Via @bbcnews #wildfire #climatecrisis #climatechange

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