Firefighters who drop from the sky will climb from ground in bid to save giant Sequoias in Sierra from Garnet Fire

Embers launched by the Garnet Fire were smoldering Tuesday in the high branches of several trees in a cherished grove of iconic giant sequoia trees in the Sierra Nevada and a association of firefighting smoke jumpers was on the way to try to put them out Fire leaders considered the tree-canopy fires were the last remaining threat to McKinley Grove after firefighters clearing underbrush and debris and even deploying sprinklers succeeded in keeping flames that entered the grove from inflicting considerable damage On Sunday night and into Monday morning when the north side of the -acre blaze in the mountains east of Fresno exploded in a -acre run it spat embers across a valley into McKinley Grove a popular cluster of giant sequoias a tree discovered only in California The firebrands likely bits of bark and branches landed in the trees and have been burning in built-up debris on branches explained U S Forest Organization spokesman Joe Zwierzchowski We ve identified which trees are holding embers Zwierzchowski disclosed So far so good nothing is engulfed in flames and fully on fire The small spots of fire are out of reach of firefighters hoses Zwierzchowski revealed You just can t shoot water that high he announced adding that hoses can squirt water upward a maximum of about or feet So the Forest Organization has called in a company of smoke jumpers whose work usually involves parachuting into remote locations to fight wildfires Because their parachutes can get caught in branches these specialized firefighters are good at climbing tall trees and retrieving items Zwierzchowski revealed The climbers were expected to reach the grove Tuesday afternoon Likely their work will require carrying a shovel or rake up each ember-holding tree and knocking the smoldering material out so it falls to the ground Related Articles Older homes for sale in California now come with wildfire warnings Map Garnet Fire stubbornly burning reaches McKinley Grove PG E gives update on fire season forecast mechanism How to defend a home from wildfire UC Berkeley researchers lessons from infernos California s hills are ready to burn as the Diablo Wind season nears The forest floor has seen several burning and much clearing of vegetation and debris by firefighters aware for a week that the fire could threaten the grove Zwierzchowski announced Key to suppressing the fire were dozens of sprinklers drawing from water tanks and running continuously since Sept he mentioned The devices nearly saturated the ground and boosted humidity in the grove by dampening fire spread Zwierzchowski commented Despite the preparation the or so firefighters on the ground in the grove had to pull out overnight Sunday because of the ferocity of the blaze s leading edge Zwierzchowski noted There was too much fire there was too much danger he commented They made sure the sprinklers were running They made every preparation that they could to leave the grove in the best condition they could But days of preparation left little for the fire to burn keeping the intensity down Zwierzchowski commented The threat to McKinley Grove was recognized soon after lightning ignited the Garnet Fire on Aug and flames tore into an area of the Sierra with no recorded fire history and massive amounts of dead timber undergrowth and dry debris declared Ben Blom director of stewardship and restoration at Save the Redwoods League It was Blom mentioned in particular strategies a worst-case scenario thanks to the accumulated fire fuels The grove was identified this past spring by the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition composed of groups managing the state s giant sequoia forests as one of the the bulk vulnerable to fire Blom declared A giant Sequoia cone with a giant Sequoia at McKinley Grove in the Sierra Nevada while the Garnet Fire threatened the iconic only-in-California trees courtesy of U S Forest System photo by Sam Wu Giant sequoias have evolved with fire over millions of years with low-intensity flames opening their seed cones Their groves typically burn every years and vegetation and debris don t build up to levels that feed flames of tree-killing intensity Blom commented But Blom stated McKinley Grove has seen little fuels-reduction by people The Forest Amenity started work in there last year and ran out of money and couldn t finish the project Blom mentioned Save the Redwoods estimates McKinley Grove holds to giant sequoias knows as monarchs for being more than four feet in diameter plus multiple smaller trees of that species It s a spectacular grove Blom commented One of the things that s unique about this grove is it s really isolated from other giant sequoia groves It s kind of an island it s isolated from where largest part of the giant sequoia groves are which is further south Fire has swept through various of those groves in latest years In firefighters wrapped trees with fireproof aluminum blankets in the famous Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park home to five of the world s largest trees including the largest of them all the General Sherman Tree While that forest s huge trees survived the flames a fire the previous year killed between and giant sequoias an estimated to of all the trees of that species in the world At McKinley Grove firefighters who had been working with hand tools came across a surprise a baby giant sequoia only a couple of feet tall amid particular manzanita Zwierzchowski noted They put a sprinkler on it he explained and it s good to go