Why fire crews are using different tactics to stop flames from reaching California's ancient sequoias
Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, where the biggest sequoia trees in the world grow, has been protected by the government for more than 150 years.
That protection is now in the hands of firefighters who have been working around the clock to contain a wildfire in Yosemite National Park that is threatening the giant trees there. They are using different tactics that include using smaller fires to stop the Washburn Fire—which has burned more than four square miles of historic parkland and is now 22% contained.
Thick plumes of dark smoke that triggered air quality alerts over the entire region was reportedly seen as far north as Oregon. Despite flames being attacked from all angles, the Washburn Fire continues to expand.
Firefighters from several different parts of California have been dispatched to fight the fire.
"We are getting as many resources as we possibly can. We have tankers, we have helicopters, we have dozers," Yosemite fire information spokesperson Nancy Phillipe told CBS News.
Due to the heavy terrain that surrounds Yosemite National Park, some of the equipment cannot be brought in so firefighters have had to hike more than a mile in ash like this to reach the flames.
The giant sequoias attract thousands of tourists each year to the national park. They are known for being fire resistant, but park officials say even the trees have a limit.
"You'll look up and you'll see 200-foot flame lengths. And that kind of fire is why they are less resistant to survival," said Phillipe.
In the past six years, over 85% of the giant sequoias that habitat the Sierra Nevada have been hit by wildfire. This is in comparison to just 25% in the previous century.
While the worst of the Washburn Fire is moving away from the sequoias, it's now burning in a remote area of the park that is hard to reach. In an effort to contain the flames, firefighters are starting small fires, known as backburns, to try and coax the flames down the hillside—where a road will act as a fire break. Fire crews use fire breaks to stop flames from escaping an area and spreading further.
"The crews will go up to the actual uncontrolled fire's edge and they'll start working off that uncontrolled edge, bringing fire down the slope," California Team 13 Department Operations Chief Matt Ahearn said.
Fire control lines are protecting the perimeter around where more than 500 sequoias stand tall.
Fire crews are still on the offense and are not calling that area fully contained until they push the flames threatening the area further back.
