Firefighters are working to protect the 275-foot-tall sequoia known as 'The General Sherman Tree' and other nearby giants.
The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet , according to the National Park Service. It towers 275 feet high and has a circumference of 103 feet at ground level.
The fires forced the evacuation of the park this week, and parts of Three Rivers, a foothill community of about 2,500 people outside the park’s main entrance. Crews have been bulldozing a line between the fire and the community. Giant sequoias are adapted to fire, which can help them thrive by releasing seeds from their cones and creating clearings that allow young sequoias to grow. But the extraordinary intensity of fires — fueled by climate change — can overwhelm the trees.
To the south, the Windy Fire grew to 19 square miles on the Tule River Indian Reservation and in Giant Sequoia National Monument, where it has burned into the Peyrone grove of sequoias and threatens others.
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