The world's largest tree is under threat from wildfires. Here's how firefighters are protecting it

Sep 21, 2021

This article is published in collaboration with Futurism.

Smoke from a fire is seen through the trees of The Lost Grove in the Sequoia National Forest in California, U.S.

With wildfires ravaging the area, firefighters are racing to protect the Sequoia National Forest's biggest trees. Image: REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Futurism

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Climate Action?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Climate Indicators is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Climate Indicators

With California's wildfires raging, 'General Sherman' is being wrapped in tinfoil by firefighters to help protect the Sequoia National park's greatest asset.
General Sherman is estimated to be about 2,500 years old at 275 feet tall, the BBC reports.
A wildfire last year killed about 10,000 sequoia trees, some thousands of years old. Now the Colony fire is threatening 2,000 more.

Sequoia Safety

Massive wildfires in California are forcing firefighters to wrap massive sequoia trees in fire-resistant blankets, including General Sherman, a 275-foot specimen that is believed to be the world’s largest tree by volume.

Discover

What’s the World Economic Forum doing about climate change?

Climate change poses an urgent threat demanding decisive action. Communities around the world are already experiencing increased climate impacts, from droughts to floods to rising seas. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report continues to rank these environmental threats at the top of the list.

To limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, it is essential that businesses, policy-makers, and civil society advance comprehensive near- and long-term climate actions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The World Economic Forum's Climate Initiative supports the scaling and acceleration of global climate action through public and private-sector collaboration. The Initiative works across several workstreams to develop and implement inclusive and ambitious solutions.

This includes the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a global network of business leaders from various industries developing cost-effective solutions to transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. CEOs use their position and influence with policy-makers and corporate partners to accelerate the transition and realize the economic benefits of delivering a safer climate.

It’s a climate change-driven disaster endangering some of the oldest and biggest living trees on our planet. General Sherman is estimated to be about 2,500 years old, the BBC reports. Tragic images shared online by the National Park Service show the base of the gigantic trunk wrapped in tinfoil-like blankets.

Tinfoil Wrap

More than 350 firefighters were battling two fires stretching over parts of Sequoia National park.

“It’s a very significant area for many, many people, so a lot of special effort is going into protecting this grove,” Rebecca Paterson, a spokeswoman for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, told the LA Times.

Have you read?

Some of the massive trees “are being prepped the same way that we would prep structures,” Patterson added.

Beyond wrapping the trees in aluminum blankets, nearby vegetation was also cleared to make sure the fire didn’t spread.

The blankets are made out of the same material that is used to wrap homes in wildfire-endangered areas, and used by firefighters as a last resort in case they ever find themselves surrounded by fire, according to the LA Times.

It’s a sad state of affairs. It would be a national travesty of our own making if we lost one of the largest trees in the world to record-breaking wildfires.

a chart showing how many aces of woodland wildfires have burned

Wildfires in the US have burned 68 million acres in a decade. Image: Statista

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.