World’s Largest Tree being protected with blankets by firefighters

To protect against blaze from a fire, which started from a lightning and have been growing for a week in September, 2021, across rugged shrubland in Sierra Nevada, the firefighters are wrapping fire-resistant blankets around Ancient Trees in the World Famous Sequoia National Park in California, as the officials that the fire could reach Giant Forest within hours, which hosts around 2,000 sequoias, including the biggest Tree in the world in terms of volume, called “General Sherman”. More than 350 firefighters were engaged in the activity and were supported by helicopters and planes which drop water.

Several Trees, along with General Sherman have been wrapped with aluminium foil to provide protection. Rebecca Paterson, the spokesperson for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks said “It’s a very significant area for many, many people, so a lot of special effort is going into protecting this grove,”.

It is worth mentioning that General Sherman is the world’s largest known living single-stem Tree, which is 275ft (83m) tall – almost as tall as the statue of liberty – and estimated to be between 2,300 to 2,800 years old. Although Sequoia Trees are fire-resistant, this extra measure is being undertaken by the authorities which shows their cautious approach towards protecting this Ancient significant Tree.