TOPSHOT - A firefighter monitors the spread of the Auto Fire in Oxnard, North West of Los Angeles, California, on January 13, 2025. US officials warned "dangerous and strong" winds were set to push deadly wildfires further through Los Angeles residential areas January 12 as firefighters struggled to make progress against the flames. At least 24 people have been confirmed dead from blazes that have ripped through the city, reducing whole neighborhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes. (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP) (Photo by ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images)
Sequoia National Forest, California – California firefighters are once again locked in a desperate race against time to protect one of the state’s most iconic natural treasures: its ancient giant sequoias. In the Sierra Nevada, where wildfires have killed thousands of the towering trees in just the past few years, crews are pulling out every stop to keep the Garnet fire from wiping out a grove that has stood for millennia.
The fire, which has burned through nearly 55,000 acres east of Fresno, reached McKinley Grove early Monday morning. The 100-acre stand is home to around 165 mature sequoias, some more than 2,000 years old and rising over 230 feet into the air. For many Californians, and conservationists around the world, these trees are symbols of resilience — but they have become increasingly fragile in an era of hotter, faster, and more destructive fire seasons.
Firefighters had spent the past week preparing for this moment. They ringed the grove with sprinklers, running them day and night to raise humidity levels around the trees. They scraped away underbrush and pine needles, anything that could fuel flames. Even with those measures, embers from the advancing blaze lodged in the branches of several sequoias on Monday, forcing firefighters into the canopy until conditions became too dangerous.
Specialized smokejumpers, more accustomed to parachuting into remote blazes, are being sent in to climb the trees and douse lingering embers. It’s an unusual mission, but one that speaks to the extraordinary value — and the vulnerability — of the grove.
Sequoias are built to withstand fire. Their thick bark resists flames, and heat is essential to open their cones and spread seeds. But recent fires, intensified by climate change and a century of fire suppression, have proven too much even for these giants. Since 2020, scientists estimate that one in five mature sequoias has been lost, with more than 14,000 killed in just five years. Trees once thought indestructible are falling.
For McKinley Grove, the stakes feel especially high. It has not burned in nearly a century, and years of drought have left it dangerously dry. Ben Bloom of the Save the Redwoods League warned that even with firefighters’ “heroic efforts, this grove remains highly at risk.”
Still, amid the urgency, there was a glimmer of hope. As crews cleared brush last week, they discovered a surprise: a baby sequoia, the grove’s 166th tree. A reminder that even in the shadow of catastrophe, the possibility of renewal remains.
“It’s a very special grove, just like all of the sequoias are special,” said Joe Zwierzchowski of the U.S. Forest Service. And for the men and women battling the Garnet fire, saving it feels like saving history itself.
