In an attempt to protect these ancient trees from the fires that ravage California, the emergency services decided to wrap their feet in fireproof blankets.
The big media. Rescuers wrapped fire blankets on Thursday, September 16, at the foot of giant sequoias, the tallest trees in the world, to protect them from wildfires raging in California, which is in the grip of drought. chronic. A grove of redwoods, including the “General Sherman” and at 83 meters high, considered the largest tree in the world, was visited by firefighters who wrapped the base of the trunks with aluminum foil in case the flames threatened these old trees.
About 2,000 firefighters in total are deployed in the Sequoia National Park area in central California to clear bushes and position devices there. “They are taking extraordinary measures to protect these treessaid one of the park officials, Christy Brigham, quoted by the newspaper Mercury News. We really want to do everything we can to protect these 2,000 to 3,000 year old trees. “.
Thousands of square kilometers of forest have already been burned this year in California. The number and intensity of fires has multiplied in recent years across the western United States, with a marked extension of the fire season. According to experts, this phenomenon is particularly linked to global warming: rising temperatures, rising heat waves and falling precipitation in some places form an ideal incendiary cocktail. Two fires burned on Thursday near Sequoia Park’s “Giant Forest,” which is home to five of the world’s largest known trees, including the “General Sherman,” and typically attracts tens of thousands of tourists.
Low-intensity fires are generally not sufficient to attack giant redwoods, adapted to these disasters, due to their very thick bark and their branches high up, out of reach of the flames. These trees even need fires to reproduce: the heat from the flames bursts the cones like popcorn to release hundreds of seeds. These giants, which grow only in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada, are not adapted to survive the most intense fires that tend to break out in recent years thanks to climate change.