A pair of lightning-sparked wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada have shuttered Sequoia National Park and are threatening its treasured gigantic trees, some of the largest on Earth.
The threat of flames from the KNP Complex led to the closing of the park and to evacuations of all park employees from facilities and nearby housing areas, Sequoia National Park announced Tuesday.
The KNP Complex, comprised of the Paradise Fire and the Colony Fire, grew to just over nine square miles late Tuesday, according to Cal Fire. While firefighters are “aggressively attacking these fires,” the park said, the wildfires are “still growing and have the potential to affect Sequoia National Park infrastructure and resources.”
Sequoia National Park is home to a forest of giant sequoias, the largest trees in the world, according to the National Park Service website. The giant sequoias, which grow along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, can be as old as 3,400 years.
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