California – Redwoods covered with aluminum for fire protection

Rescue workers wrapped the blankets of the world’s tallest tree, the giant sequoia, to protect California from wildfires after a long drought on Thursday.

“General Sherman”, considered the world’s largest tree, and his 83-meter-tall Redwood grove were visited by firefighters.

About 2,000 firefighters are concentrated in the Redwood National Park area of ​​central California where they clear brush and front gear. “They are taking extraordinary measures to protect these trees,” said Christy Brigham, one of the park officials. “We want to do everything we can to preserve these 2000 to 3000 year old trees,” he says.

Thousands of square kilometers of forest have already been burned in California this year. The number and intensity of fires have increased in recent years across the western United States with significant lengths of fire season.

According to experts, this phenomenon is particularly associated with global warming: an increase in temperature, increase in heat waves and precipitation in places is an excellent flammable cocktail.

Two fires on Thursday near the “Giant Forest” of Sequoia Park, home to five of the world’s largest trees, including “General Sherman”, usually attract tens of thousands of tourists.

Low-intensity fires are generally not harmful to large sequoias, and their thick bark and their branches are located at a height that does not reach the flames for these disasters. Instead, these trees need fire to reproduce: the heat of the flames explodes popcorn-like cones to release hundreds of seeds.

But these giants, which grow only in the foothills of Sierra Nevada in California, have not sustained enough fires in recent years thanks to climate change. Crystal Golden, a fire expert at the University of California at Mercedes, cited by the Los Angeles Times.

Last May, after being caught in a huge fire that destroyed the area nine months ago, experts were surprised to find a giant sequoia burning slowly, like a tree in a fireplace.