Sequoia National Park is shut down, its namesake gigantic trees potentially threatened by two forest fires burning in steep and dangerous terrain in California’s Sierra Nevada.
Both fires were projected to advance in the direction of Giant Forest, home to more than 2,000 giant sequoias including the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree on Earth by volume. The massive sequoias grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The General Sherman Tree stands 275 feet and is over 36 feet in diameter at the base, according to the U.S. National Park Service.
"There’s no imminent threat to Giant Forest but that is a potential," Mark Ruggiero, fire information officer for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, said Tuesday.
Ruggiero estimated that the closest flames were about a mile from the grove.