World’s Biggest Tree Wrapped in Foil as Raging California Wildfire Creeps Closer
ANCIENT GIANT
The world’s biggest tree—the 2,500-year-old giant sequoia known as General Sherman—has been wrapped in protective foil in a last-ditch attempt to save it from a rapidly approaching wildfire. The Colony Fire was expected to reach California’s famous Giant Forest on Thursday, and firefighters have put an aluminum wrapping around the base of General Sherman and some other of the ancient sequoias in Sequoia National Park ahead of the fire’s arrival. The Giant Forest Museum and other buildings in the area have also been wrapped up to limit the damage from the wildfire. “It’s a very significant area for many, many people, so a lot of special effort is going into protecting this grove,” Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks spokesperson Rebecca Paterson told the Los Angeles Times.