With The Yosemite Park Washburn Fire Only 23% Contained And Threatening The Historic Giant Sequoias, Officials Installed In-Ground Sprinkler Systems
Over the past week, a wildfire in Yosemite National Park, California, has continued to gain momentum.
Coined “The Washburn Fire” since the blaze began near the Washburn Trail, the wildfire has burned over four thousand acres of land.
Crews have continued to battle the tragedy, which park officials reported they believe was human-started during a town hall meeting this past Monday.
“As you all know, there was no lightning. So, it’s a human-started fire. It is under investigation, and that’s all I can say right now. We are looking at that real, real hard,” said Cicely Muldoon, the Park Superintendent.
In the meantime, all residents and visitors of the Wawona community were ordered to evacuate. The fire has also moved into the Sierra National Forest, spurring more road closures to ensure citizen safety and prompt crew access.
As of this morning, officials reported that the fire is only twenty-three percent contained– even after calling in over one thousand firefighters from across the state of California to help.
One of officials’ most significant concerns right now is preserving the historic Giant Sequoia trees.
The most famous tree– known as the Grizzly Giant– stands at two hundred and nine feet tall and is estimated to be over three thousand years old.
And there are over five hundred mature Giant Sequoias just like it in the surrounding area.
Tomasz Zajda – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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With the blaze moving toward the trees’ region, officials installed a ground-based sprinkler system to help increase humidity in the area in an effort to ward off the flames.
The parks service also initiated a clean-up of all “heavy and fine fuels” surrounding the trees, such as branches, twigs, and leaf litter, to detour ignition.
The National Park Service (NPS) did issue a statement sharing its confidence in the sequoia tree protection efforts.
“Fortunately, the Mariposa Grove has a long history of prescribed burning. Studies have shown that these efforts will reduce the impacts of high-severity unwanted fire,” NPS said.
Still, California residents are worried. Over the past two years alone, lightning-sparked wildfires have decimated twenty percent of these historic trees in the Sierra.
To remain updated on the spread of the Washburn Fire, you can view a newly released infrared map showing how the blaze is heading north and east linked here.
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