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Yosemite Wildfire Threatens Ancient Sequoia Grove, and Air Crews With Flying Debris

Blaze doubles in size near the ancient Mariposa Grove, home to about 500 of the giants, as pilots report debris flying between air water tankers.

A wildfire ripping through California’s Yosemite National Park is threatening a grove of ancient giant sequoias. The Washburn Fire, which now covers more than 2,000 acres, is approaching the Mariposa Grove, home to some 500 sequoias. The size of the fire more than doubled on Sunday, the AP reports, with intercepted air-crew traffic stating that debris from the blaze was shooting hundreds of feet into the air, narrowly missing one tanker, according to SFGate. “Hey, just want to let you know, a branch went over the top of us,” a pilot is reported to have radioed into dispatch. “A pretty good size, probably 50 feet above us coming down and fell right between tanker 103 and myself... So if we keep seeing that, we might have to knock it off. I don’t want to take a chance of busting a window on an airplane or hurting an aircraft for this.” In June 1864, President Abraham Lincoln sign a law protecting Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove for “public use, resort, and recreation.” Giant sequoias, the largest trees on the planet, can withstand smaller fires but not more intense drought-fueled wildfires. SFGate reports the park’s best known sequoia, Grizzly Giant, a 2,700-year-old tree, has not been harmed so far.