Smokejumpers work to save Giant Sequoias as Garnet Fire burns through McKinley Grove

Firefighters ascent Giant Sequoias successful McKinley Grove to halt the Garnet Fire, the archetypal successful 150 years to endanger the grove.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- For the archetypal clip successful 150 years, flames person burned done the historical McKinley Grove of Giant Sequoias, prompting an bonzer firefighting effort to prevention immoderate of the world's oldest and largest trees.

Smokejumpers with the U.S. Forest Service scaled the towering sequoias this week aft the Garnet Fire swept into the grove. Crews besides acceptable backfires little than a mile distant successful an effort to dilatory the blaze and support the remaining trees.

"We're trying to prevention the tree," said Steven Roberts, a smokejumper with the Forest Service. "We leap retired of airplanes and enactment retired fires. This is simply a small spot different. They've called america up to effort to assistance enactment retired fires successful these Sequoias."

Video released by the Forest Service showed flames moving dangerously adjacent to the grove earlier this week. Sprinkler systems were deployed earlier specialized crews were called successful to extinguish smoldering embers successful the crowns of the monolithic trees.

"There person been a fewer Sequoias that got embers successful their crown down present and that's wherefore we person the smokejumpers," said Olivia Roe with the High Sierra Ranger District. "They're climbing and they're putting retired that occurrence that's smoldering successful the crown."

The McKinley Grove spans astir 50,000 acres wrong the Sierra National Forest, which covers much than 1 cardinal acres. While tiny successful size, the grove holds immense ecological and taste significance.

"In caller years, we person had high-intensity fires that person impacted different groves and we've mislaid a fig of these irreplaceable treasures," said Jon Regelbrugge of the Sierra National Forest.

For many, the effort to prevention the trees is astir much than preserving forestland.

"It's spiritual, cultural. It's our heritage," said Dirk Charley, occurrence tribal liaison.

Roe added, "You instrumentality thing that's 3,000 years old, and it's been present for truthful long, we person a work to assistance sphere it and support it here."

The origin of the Garnet Fire remains nether investigation.

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