The Sequoia National Park in California was closed after the fires in the Sierra Nevada region of the state intensified and prompted evacuations. General Sherman is a tree there that is the largest in the world by volume (52,508 cubic feet) and is 2,500 years old. It is now possibly in the path of the wildfires that are engulfing the state.
Climate change and rising temperatures are considered the driving factors behind the increased intensity of the flames. More than 7,400 wildfires have burned in the state this year, burning over 2.2. million acres. The lagest fire in the state’s history, the Dixie fire, has burned an area of 960,500 acres and is now at 86% containment. The Caldor fire has burned 219,267 acres and is 71% contained, while the Hopkins fire has burned 257 acres and is 96% contained.
On Tuesday, president Joe Biden had said that: “These fires are blinking code red for our nation. They’re gaining frequency and ferocity and we know what we’re supposed to do,” he said. “Scientists have been warning us for years [that] extreme weather is going to get more extreme. We’re living it in real-time now.”
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